SILENCE (a Video Film)

Multi Format, Color, Silent, Loop, Thomas Scheffer, VG Bild-Kunst 2026

100x100x30mm

Projection or Screening 16:9 up to 4k, color, silent, 14'18'' Min

Silence

The video film *Silence* is a poetic reflection on the quiet dynamics of our time. In a world marked

by constant noise, an information overload, and an ever-increasing pace of life, the film turns its

gaze toward what is barely noticed: subtle changes, slow processes, and the quiet signals of a

changing environment.

The starting point is the observation that many of the most profound transformations of our

present are not brought about by sudden events, but by barely perceptible shifts. Climate change,

for example, rarely progresses in dramatic moments; rather, it manifests itself in tiny temperature

changes, shifting seasons, or slowly receding landscapes. These changes are so subtle that they

elude immediate perception—and are often overlooked precisely for that reason.

The film combines this ecological perspective with an examination of social developments. In an

era of global crises, growing volumes of data, and complex interconnections, humans are

reaching the limits of their perceptual capacity. Large numbers, exponential developments, and

long-term processes are difficult to grasp intuitively. This creates a distance between our

knowledge of global changes and our actual everyday experience.

Silence counters this state with an attitude of mindfulness. Through its tranquil images, the film

invites us to focus our attention on the seemingly unspectacular: the slow wandering of shadows,

the rhythmic breathing of visual elements—phenomena that, due to their extreme slowness, are

difficult or impossible to perceive. In silence, space emerges for perception—and for the

realization that even the smallest changes are part of larger processes.

The film understands silence not as an absence, but as a possibility: as a moment of

concentration in which the invisible can become visible and the inaudible can become audible. In

this attitude of mindfulness lies, perhaps, a prerequisite for perceiving the complex challenges of

our time at all.

Silence is thus less an explanation than an invitation: to pause, to look more closely, and to

become aware of the quiet but unstoppable changes that shape our world.

A video film by Thomas Scheffer and Karina Lejeune.

Shown on a display object measuring 100 × 100 × 30 mm with a runtime of 14:11 minutes, in

color and without sound, or as a projection.