BETTINA HOFFMAN at the AGO’s Young Gallery (317 Dundas West) to May 31. 416-979-6648. Rating: NNN
Betina Hoffman‘s video installation, titled Emile, shows children and teens frozen in still poses as a video camera twirls and pans about them. The juxtaposition of still bodies and roving camera underscores the tension between youthful energy and anxiety. Are the young subjects posing, frozen in time or just apathetic?
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A disquieting ambient soundtrack adds to the eeriness. The name of the show suggests a link to Rousseau’s romantic treatise on young adulthood, but the piece itself seems to be more about youthful alienation in the digital age.
