This film stages the destruction of a red van by bulldozers near a refuse station in the middle of nature. Unlike many of Matta-Clark’s films, which simply document a performance, this one is truly staged for the camera, with editing and picture effects, which rhythm the destruction while playing on the contrast with the surrounding natural environment.

From the start, the truck charges straight into the bulldozer. The sequence is repeated from different angles and is shot like a bullfight – the bulldozer continues the destruction by charging the red truck, after having executed several movements before attacking. The game continues with a second bulldozer entering the scene. They bash the vehicle to pieces, which wind up on a skip. The shots alternate with images of seagulls flying over the dump, until the final shot, when the birds’ flight passes over the dump in the light of a magnificent sunset. Gordon Matta-Clark works on materials within processes of deconstruction. By romantically staging the sacrifice of this truck, the artist creates a link between primitive and ritualised practices of sacrifice and the modern world in which he lives.

Patricia Maincent
Translated by Anna Knight