Static things do not exist. Everything is dynamic. Even an object that appears to be static is not at a standstill. —Lygia Clark

By definition, materiality signifies the quality of being material, physical, and graspable, something that pertains to matter rather than form. But material, although intrinsically linked with physical matter, may potentially be associated also with non-physical matter. Such multivalent understanding of materiality, its double-edged meaning, was recognized by media theorist Marshall McLuhan and reflected in his conviction that material may assume a formless form of, for instance, electric light.

Fluxus confronts us with the invisible, contingent, and immaterial dimensions of materiality. Zen for Film oscillates between the immateriality of the projected light, the sounds of the projector, and the material traces as they slowly obliterate the leader’s transparent surface. The artwork’s specificity is determined by the choice of certain materiality of display, which in turn affirms its temporal anchoring in the time when analogue film projectors were ubiquitous in cinematic displays. Moreover, because the technical apparatus projects no image and the traces collected on the leader expose what commonly remains unexposed to the viewer, Zen for Film’s sheer materiality seem to exhausts itself in the created sensation.

Changeability, too, determines materiality of artworks, on both the physical and the conceptual level. In Zen for Film, beyond the deterioration of the film caused by mechanical, chemical and physical processes, changeability is manifested in the artwork’s open-ended nature and its potential for infinite interpretations.

Zen for Film’s continuous re-composition (a new film leader and projector are always used) and the performance of all its parts reveal an aspect of its materiality that calls attention to the relation of the end product——the projection of the work——with the human factor. The conjoined skill, tacit knowledge, and memory of the person engaged with installing Zen for Film bears evidence that materiality cannot be divorced from the act of making. —LS