A video made in the Geneva-Zagreb night train (on the 12-minute stretch between Geneva Airport and Geneva Main Station).

Artist statement

In late 1998, over several evenings, I took the Geneva-Zagreb night train, that was leaving Genève Aéroport around 9 pm.

The train was composed of ancient Italian and East-European carriages, each of them with a different interior, as well as a baroque dining car. The train used to be mostly empty, and carried a ghost-like atmosphere.

As soon as the train began to move, I started recording (with a tiny Sony MiniDV camera borrowed from Geneva art school) and ran straight across the whole train, as fast as possible. Arriving in Geneva Main Station minutes later, I would exit the train.

From the footage recorded over several evenings, I edited a video piece where I combined all the takes, matching them seamlessly, so that the motion of running through the train appeared to be an endless, nightmarish and claustrophobic loop.

Fellow art student Livia Gnos, after attending the first screening of the piece, likened it to the experience of listening to The Velvet Underground.

Unfortunately, the MiniDV tape was lost.

Notes

This project was later expanded, when the art/core collective decided to make the whole trip until Zagreb, and shot a movie during the trip.

Some time after this project was carried out, the direct train connection between Geneva and Zagreb was cancelled. Travellers now had to change trains in Milano or Venice.

The fast forward-moving motion is echoed 12 years later in the Low-Rez Stories/Solaris piece.