Robert Ladislas Derr





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Columbus Dispatch


Columbus Dispatch video

Discovering Columbus, 2011

Interested in the semiotics of a group of towns sharing an appellation, I discover the ten towns in the United States named after Christopher Columbus. Given Christopher Columbus’ use of the stars for ocean navigation, I utilize the constellation as my course and subject, in a quest of discovering the 15th century explorer. The ten towns include Columbia, Maryland | Columbia, Missouri | Columbia, South Carolina | Columbiana, Ohio | Columbus, Georgia | Columbus, Indiana | Columbus, Mississippi | Columbus, Ohio | Columbus, Wisconsin | Washington, District of Columbia

Discovering Columbus, Part I: Cities

The points of the constellation of the day each town was incorporated is transposed to the streets, and becomes navigation for me, as I capture the life flow with four video cameras. Stacking the videos together, along with the vocalist from each of the towns singing Guy Mitchell's Christopher Columbus, I create a chimerical landscape. With the stacking, progressively each town joins and leaves the landscape, beginning and ending with the longest.
four–channel video installation, color, sound, 56 minutes 20 seconds, 2011

Thank you to vocalists Allison Rupert, Blair Bledsoe, Camilla Gehring, Kari Pepper, Kelly Darbyshire, Leigh Fouts, Michael LaGruth, Mindy Braden, Rhonda Register, and Ryunosuke Matsui.

click for installation view


beginning detail of one of the channels of the above four-channel video installation, shows the first 14 minutes, this is a large file, so may need to keep hitting play
Discovering Columbus, Part II: Parks

The constellations also become an obstacle course in each town's park. Plotting out the constellation, I place Christopher Columbus’ flag for each star. The shirt colors that I wore correspond with the color generally associated with each Zodiac of each constellation. Filming from three angles that forms an isosceles triangle, with a fourth camera carried, I record my kicking of a globe. The three cameras, and the carried camera that gives a first person account, emphasize the power of perspective. Time becomes subject in the two twenty-channel split screen videos, as the performances are rendered in normal, slow, and fast speed to highlight the notion of relativity. Arranging the videos into a constellation like form refers back to the original performances. The motion of the spinning globe combined with my movements is analogue to the chaotic nature of matter in the universe.
two twenty–channel split screen videos, color, sound, 7 minutes 16 seconds, 2011