The Trinity Session storm Normandy
by Sean O'Toole
Stephen Hobbs, Marcus Neustetter and Kathryn Smith, collectively known as The Trinity Session, recently showcased their work at a respected video art festival in Normandy, France. The Johannesburg-based art cell contributed two works to the 16th 'Rencontres Vidéo Art Plastique', hosted at Normandy's Centre d'Art Contemporain. Presented over four days, from November 26 to 30, French audiences had the option of viewing a new Trinity Session installation entitled 'Tricrotic', as well as a video showreel featuring selected South African video artworks produced between 1990 and 2002, titled In No Particular Order (vol. 1).
"Tricrotic functions as a portrait of three separate artistic identities tending towards a synchronicity," said Smith of the stack of projection screens suspended off the floor. "Tricrotic's form stands in for the ongoing process we experience in trying to define an authorial identity for a tripartite collaborative such as ours."
Artist's showcased on the video compilation In No Particular Order (vol. 1), included Malcolm Payne, William Kentridge, Robin Rhode and Jo Ratcliffe. Rhode's Unplugged, Bicycle and Hondjie featured alongside Clive van den Berg's Don't Fly Too High, Box and Usha Seejarim's The Opposite of Illustration. Other artist's showcased include Jose Ferreira, Penny Siopis, Tracey Rose, Minnette Vari, Matthew Hindley, Greg Streak, Stephen Hobbs, Richard Penn, Christian Nerf's The Blow-up g_ds, Kathryn Smith and Brad Hammond. Robert Hodgins's collaboration with Deborah Bell, Memo was one of two collaborative pieces showcased; Sebastian Dias Morales and Jo Ratcliffe's One Year Later being the other.
