Bim Bam
16 mm color film installation with two slot-loading projectors, metal armature, cd player, and speakers, 1 min. 1 sec.; 1 min. 12 sec., 1999
In two separate 16 mm film loops, one stacked atop the other, a pair of silhouetted female figures (both the artist) repeatedly step through a threshold, slamming the door in front of or behind them over and over with all their might. When the doors are open, they fill the frame with either yellow or blue light; when they are closed, the frame goes black. The footage was filmed with the camera turned on its side such that the figures appear at a 90-degree angle from the floor. The sound of doors slamming plays on an independent track and is left unsynchronized with the projections, either anticipating or lagging behind the action. The overall impression of the work is of a single, unitary jolt of experience that repeats endlessly.
Bim Bam was inspired by a similarly circular rhyme that Friedman’s grandmother used to recite to her at bedtime: There once was a man his name was Bim Bam he had seven sons the seven sons said, “Father tell us a story!” then the man began. There once was a man his name was Bim Bam…
Exhibited in the Whitney Biennial 2000.