In the Land of the Elevator Girls, 1989
Single-channel video, colour, sound, 4:16 minutes
Courtesy of the Artist and BERG Contemporary
In the Land of the Elevator Girls draws on footage recorded in Japan and reflects Steina’s engagement with urban movement, repetition, and mediated observation. The work focuses on elevator attendants performing highly codified gestures, captured and reorganised through video processing. These recorded actions become visual units structured through repetition, temporal displacement, and spatial modulation.
Uniformity of gesture and environment is echoed by the logic of video itself, where scanning and repetition shape perception. Rhythm and pattern replace narrative progression. The work examines how video systems register and reorganise movement within structured environments.