16mm film loop, b/w, silent, 0:10, 2002

Washing is a 16mm film loop depicting the apparently simple image of a hand cleaning a window.  Beyond the window in the background, a foggy landscape is visible. It is the landscape of Lower Manhattan, in the year 2002, the Brooklyn Bridge in the foreground, and the gap in the skyline in the background where the World Trade Center once stood. As the film runs through the projector, it becomes dirtier and dirtier, acquiring scratches and dust. The hand continues its simple, repetitive gesture, trying to clean a landscape--and a collective memory--of trauma. The gesture is essential, though the task inevitably futile. The original presentation of Washing was as a site-specific installation; it was projected on 16mm film between the windows from which it was originally filmed.