Sandra Peters

The film Défilé des ombres is based on the forms and configurations of shadows I discovered by chance inside the Jil Sander flagship store on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin after a walk. The items of clothing hanging for sale there produced a multifaceted play of shadows on the monochrome concrete floor—thanks not least to the complex lighting in the store. I spoke to the manager responsible for the store and asked whether I could sketch the shadows before the store opened and document them on a large sheet of paper. After some initial hesitation, she agreed, and on three different days, I sketched the contours in the early morning. I then photographed the drawings so I would be able to remember the shadows on site that filled out my lines. I developed the film Défilé des ombres from this photographic material.

Défilé des ombres is not a film in the traditional sense; rather, it consists of still photographs in motion: twenty-four photographs were edited together to create a digital loop. As the individual images drift and flow into one another, the differences in the thickness of the drawn lines suggest a défilé, which the sound artist Frédéric Sanchez set to music that he composed with a synesthetic effect in mind. The fact that Sanchez normally composes soundtracks for fashion shows in Paris and Milan heightens the subtle irony of the poetry of Défilé des ombres.