The long take is sometimes referred to in film theory as the ultimate representation of subjectivity. As opposed to a montage, it necessarily represents a single, embodied, point of view, therefore leaving out all others. The long take could be said to reproduce a very realistic, while at the same time cinematic, kind of consumption of the world around us.
Robert Arndt works with photography and film to engage questions of structure, subjectivity, and interpretation, often subverting expectations by using familiar cinematic devices in unfamiliar ways. His pieces cause us to pay attention to the ways in which the objects and images we consume come to perform the roles we ask of them, and are confronted with the tension of the present moment balanced against describable realities. Arndt’s works often seem to hint that they are part of a larger dialogue or process, and that both the beginning and the end of what is presented is intentionally left open.
Since graduating from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, Arndt has exhibited and screened his work in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the U.S., and abroad, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), and Artists Space (New York). He lives and works in Vancouver.
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