Video Installation

Nine individual segments record a captive-bred polar bear in the Berlin Zoo. Whelan recorded each segment at 320 frames per second on a high-speed camera, significantly slowing down the already minimal movements of the largest living species of terrestrial predator to a series of reductive gestures. The visual deceleration achieved through the slow motion brings the viewer into an abnormal temporal relationship with the animal, creating both a tension and a moment of shared experience. When exhibited the sections are looped seamlessly to give the impression that they continue in an infinite cycle.