Philippe Parreno & Pierre Joseph

Snaking
1992

Super 8 film transfered onto video, 3.10 minutes (video stills)

YOU'RE TIRED OF BLADING, TREKKING, JOGGING, RAFTING...TRY SNAKING
New York, Central Park,
on Sundays, a cround of bodies and fashion styles...
Ice skates on feet, skulls designed like helmets with implemented mirrors everywhere, that allow "surround" vision, 360°... Coloured outfits that project this sort of language, reserved only to persons in the know, just like Indian tribal war paintings; music diffused by bony conduction, walkman helmets stuck into people's ears, and when the music stops, we find them all surprised to still be hearing acoustically...and then, we remember the report broadcasted the night before on CNN, which showed GI rangers on Saoudian sand: and finally, the ground and trashes are so ransacked by the bums, that we feel like we are stepping on their culture and their afternoon snacks.
So anyway, SNAKING, which would consist of crawling in precisely designed clothing in order to live what we see, no longer having to ask ourselves "Am I dreaming?" is waiting to be played and enjoyed.
One's legs are envelopped in a long tail that's seeled with a bell, like the bell on a joker's hat or a rattle snake. One's arms are protected by elbow pads made from pieces of mountain bike tires; and the suit itself is designed like a wet suit. The look of the Snaker is based or comparable to mermaids or even snakes, from where it gets its name.
Just like Serge Daney said about the movies Grand Bleu, Palombella Rossa and The Abyss, "l'eau comme metaphore du social et l'individu moderne comme petit baigneur" (water as a metaphore for society and the modern individual like a little swimmer). So let's get out of the water and get back on land...and try SNAKING! why not? again, why not?