Laura Grisi (1939 Greece–2017 Italy)
The Measuring of Time, 1969
b-w digital video from 16mm film, 5’45”
Courtesy the Estate and P420, Bologna

The Measuring of Time is part of a group of films realized at the very end of the sixties. Sitting in the desert, the artist counts grains of sand in her hands, performing a slow and poetic action that refers to the (im)possibility of measuring time. This endless, repetitive gesture is emphasized in the film, which was shot in a single spiral sequence, beginning with a close-up of the hands counting the grains and expanding outward to reveal the figure performing the action. The spiral motion, which moves from the specific to the general and then goes back to the specific, suggests the powerful image of the circularity of time.