“Time as perspective” Rosa Barba

2012 · color · DE, USA · EN · 12’

Time as Perspective was shot in the Texan desert and shows huge oil pumps constantly repeating the same mechanical movement.  Their meditative sculptural quality in the vast and arid  landscape, counteracts the social and political issues caused by the exploitation of natural resources which the film touches upon. Its temporal horizon is hard to fixate – it could be both, a futuristic vision or a historical document. Yet, the drilling pumpjacks keep running in loops – a symbol for progress and exploitation that has been reduced to a mechanical repetitive rhythm. They move but never change, a monotonous labor that invokes consistency. No progression – just movement that becomes monumental. Thousands of pumpjacks print invisible repetitive patterns into the earth – or onto the film. Their “writing” remains hidden as it seems to travel through ayers of earth. But it also points to the term “Peak Oil”,the moment when the maximum rate of petroleum extraction is reached.

THE DIRECTOR | ROSA BARBA

Rosa Barba (Born in Agrigento, Italy. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany)

Rosa Barba’s artistic practice navigates between various dichotomies, exploring themes of permanence versus impermanence, reality versus fiction, and the interplay of language and time. Through films, sculptures, installations, publications and performances, she investigates how space is shaped by temporal and linguistic constructs, challenging linear narratives and traditional semiotics. Barba deconstructs cinematic elements to examine the intersections of physical materials like projectors and celluloid with abstract concepts like time, space, and sound. Her work often focuses on natural landscapes and human interventions, blurring the lines between historical record, personal narrative, and artistic representation. Her work is part of numerous international collections and her forthcoming and recent solo exhibitions include: Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (2026), MoMA, New York, (2024, 2025), MAXXI, Rome, (2025), Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam (2024), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2023), Tate Modern, London (2023), PICA, Perth Australia (2023), Villa Medici, Rome (2022), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2021-2022), and at Biennials such as the 53rd and 56th Venice Biennale, Sao Paolo (2016), Sydney (2014) and Performa (2013). She was awarded the Calder Prize in 2020, and the International Prize for Contemporary Art, of the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco (2015).