A metal wall opens. The camera moves through a huge, empty multistorey car park which, for reasons yet unknown, is completely frozen over. The pillars are covered with a thick layer of ice and massive icicles hang from the ceiling, a winterscape brought about by below freezing temperatures. A telephone rings. We hear a woman's voice: "Hello, is that Erol?" Lena is a young Russian woman, a consultant and interpreter/translator for Interdate, a dating agency. Erol, a gallery owner from the States, used this agency to arrange a date to meet Sasha at Hotel Cosmos in Moscow. He came over from the States especially for this. We generally associate the phenomenon of 'blind dating' with using contact addresses from newspapers or weeklies to look for a partner. In today's increasingly commercial and individualistic world the dating agency can only be a growth service industry. They not only help people who are short on social skills, but are now also very often being used to set up a date between two people who are just too busy to go out and look for themselves. Obviously, a blind date won't always work out. You never know exactly who you are going to get. "Sasha can't meet you", Lena explains. "She was arrested. No, not for prostitution. For art." An absurd story follows, during which the imagery of the frozen garage is explained.
– Marieke van Hal
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Voice: Malgorzata MacugaProductie: IAF
Saskia Olde Wolbers ° 1971, Breda (Netherlands)
Lives and works in Londen (UK)
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