Dora Maurer

Time is measured by folding a piece of white linen in front of a black background: I fold it altogether seven times, one fold more each time, always starting a new. The proportions of the cloth correspond to the picture-size of a 16mm film, its length is that of my two outstreched arms. "Timing has a remarkable place among the films of Maurer not only because of its clear structure and ist ingenious basic idea, but also it stands on the crossroad of all her endeavours she has hithero made. Of course, it is a 'displacement' like so many works of her, but this is only a modest aspect of the film. Here one is folding a canvas into two, into four… into thirty-two - until it becomes impossible to fold it. But we must not forget that this canvas is the same proportion of the cinema screen, and the metaphor 'the canvas of the painter = the canvas of the filmmaker' is particularly emphasized by the fact that while folding the canvas, the screen is also dividing itself (and shrinking)." (Laszlo Beke)