The Soft Bit

The Soft Bit is a cinematic exploration of movement, sound and image. Connecting the internal and the external, the fragmented and the whole, Lingji Hon’s captivating Taiji quan inspired performance forms the center of gravity, pulling the camera towards her. While Jana Irmert’s atmospheric music leads the viewer into an unknown world, the imagery is embraced by an experimental montage that plays by its own rules – revealing the interconnectedness of all elements.

Two hands bend up, slowly at first, then sharply, as if directing the ground to lift. Up and down again, up and down. The sky hangs motionless and grey. A fist stretches up in slow motion, all tension centered overhead. Gushes hit the earth, sudden, cut off, they repeat. Like soft wings pushing against the air’s resistance, arms widen and draw circles into the liquid.

Waves pull through water. Dark mosses hide secret worlds. Open skies turn into endless seas without shores, stretching farther than the mind’s eye can see.

A metal hit – you can feel the warm bronze vibrate, steady, shimmering, low. Eyes meet. A hand disguises the gaze. You see how the surface of glass curves and breaks the light. Pulled from the center, arms push out, fingers slice the air, hair flies with the torso spiraling. Between the rough brown and yellow grass, patches of bright green lichen will glow in the dark. Dust gathers. Static accumulates.

Elbow to knee, head to thigh, a gaze from below. Stuck in a loop, arms spread and tighten. Against the black sharpness of trees, the sky stretches tight and deeply purple. As metal scratches against metal, a sharp heavy pendulum, bright waves start forming a melody, softly ringing in your ears. Moving along into darkness, one last turn to look back.