Detroit Transect — Reaching (2014 DOWNIE KAISER)

Reaching (2 hours) is the longest section of the Detroit Transect suite of 3D films by Marc Downie and Paul Kaiser. Detroit Transect forges a new kind of visual documentary radically different from the conventional documentary form.

Reaching relies upon a novel visual structure to evoke the frontal view to be had when driving the full line of Brush Street. Five parallel but time-staggered frames of 3D video repeatedly converge into a single view before resetting.

This looping structure absorbs viewers’ gazes completely over the full 2 hour duration of the film — for while they know exactly what they’re seeing, still they can’t believe their eyes. And this is true not only of the odd perceptual puzzles created by the formal device, but by the urban puzzle of the Brush Street line and of Detroit as a whole.

Detroit: Transect

Our artists’ statement and a well-illustrated account of the sections and methods of the entire Detroit Transectproject is provided in this PDF document (18 mb).

Support

The executive producer was Dennis Scholl. Support provided by the Witt Residency Program at the Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan and by

In early 2015 this artwork was acquired by MoMA for it permament collection.