Introduction
Meaning Distances explores Rosa Barba’s ongoing engagement with the instability of knowledge bringing together a selection of sculptural film works. From the outset of her career at the intersection of film and visual art, Rosa Barba has challenged conventional modes of presentation, pushing the boundaries of what can be seen and how narratives unfold across space and time. Engaging deeply with the material nature of film — from its physical properties and the mechanics of projection to the creation of sound, image, and text — she treats cinema as a collection of elements to be broken apart, reconfigured, and woven into new constellations. This deliberate fragmentation disrupts traditional cinematic hierarchies, opening up possibilities for film to be experienced as both a sculptural and spatial installation.
Barba’s conceptual explorations of film probe historical records, personal narratives, and the sensory experience of cinema and sound, often by recording natural landscapes and human-made changes to the environment. Landscape acts here as a pivotal actor in relation to transforming socio-political, cultural and architectural situations. Using performative framing as a strategic device, her films question the instability of knowledge, explore myths, and scientific experiments.
The exhibition opens this year's 25 FPS Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb.