Sleep #2

EarthCam is a webcam network showing 24/7 live streams of tourist attractions, including cemeteries where famous people are buried. This desktop film by Radu Jude—consisting entirely of screen recordings of Andy Warhol’s grave on EarthCam—is an impressionistic montage of shots from the same location, but at different times and in different circumstances.

We see people placing cans of Campbell’s soup on the grave, or posing next to it; a family having a picnic; and deer darting about between the gravestones. Some visitors are aware that they are being filmed: one waves at the camera, another takes off his pants. 

The material spans four seasons. We see the grave during the daytime as well as at night when it is almost invisible. Sometimes there is sound; sometimes there is none. Occasionally, the camera zooms in or we see a cursor on the screen. A question gradually forms itself in our minds: are we watching Warhol’s grave, the people looking at the grave, or the director watching it all on the live stream?