In this minimalist, comic video, film director and artist Noël Loozen (1983) visualizes the struggle between man and nature. Loozen rides a bicycle on a typical Dutch dike and tries to get ahead but keeps getting blown back by the strong wind.
Loozen likes to create little stories about the clumsiness of everyday life. He gives his stories an unexpected depth by putting them under a magnifying glass. This video work is a metaphor for life, in which we sometimes feel like we are not making any progress, and are always focused on our destination.
'In a world in constant flux, this work lets you pause to consider whether progress is always necessary or even achievable.' The work opens an ironic dialogue with the travelers at Schiphol Airport who are in a hurry to get to their gate on time. With the video, Loozen wants to show that life is an endless journey in which we are always learning.
He deliberately added two sheep grazing peacefully along the dike, oblivious to his never-ending struggle. 'The sheep form a calm, quiet contrast to the movement of the wind and my own journey. Everything came together in a simple, powerful image in which nature and man complement each other.'
Noël Loozen studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, after which he earned his master's degree at the film academy. His films and artworks tell stories full of subtle irony and visual simplicity.