In MM, the troubled frame of the Millennium Dome rears up, half-naked, surrounded by the rubble of its own building site.
Raban reaches further back in time and shows us footage he shot in 1987 when the power station that used to stand on the site was demolished. Although these films might seem to weave a subtle critique of Thatcherite free market ideology and the dominance of transportation over the needs of a community, they also speak of Raban's lifelong fascination with the business of representation, of the world experienced through the lens of a wilful, itinerant camera. As he puts it, it is the rhythmic pulse of the shutter, and the purring of the projector that hold the artist's and viewer's thoughts, that focus the attention and contrive to make the process of looking and the marking of time material..real.
Cate Elwes, 'The Subtle London Meditations of William Raban Make Time Real', VertigoSpring/summer 2005.
Stills from MM
