Sleep (2013) is an eight-hour moving image work that began as a technical experiment and evolved into an ongoing exploration of time, presence, and perception. Referencing Andy Warhol’s unrealized eight-hour ambition, the piece uses contemporary consumer technology, a pocket camera, improvised rigs, and fragmented “dream” sequences—to construct a layered experience that exists between documentation and abstraction.
The work was originally distributed as a made-to-order DVD and later released online, deliberately testing how context, platform, and accessibility reshape the meaning of an artwork. Its reception has ranged from underground screenings to the International Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as academic analysis, where it has been described as an example of “aesthetics of cohabitation”—a work that can be lived with rather than simply watched.
Sleep continues to shift with its environment: gaining new audiences, facing removal, reappearing in new forms. It is less a fixed film than a persistent situation—one that extends beyond its original duration. The story of Sleep is anything but over.
In 2026, Sleep was selected for Anozero’26 – Bienal de Coimbra (To Hold, To Give, To Receive, curated by Hans Ibelings and John Zeppetelli), shown as part of a Three Rooms installation at the Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova, Coimbra, Portugal — April 11 – July 5, 2026. The other room belongs to Chantal Akerman.
Video 480 minutes
2013
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