Robert Cahen is a video artist, director, composer by training. A major figure in the field of video creation, coming from the frontiers between the arts, he is a pioneer in the use of electronic instruments. Robert Cahen's work is recognizable by his way of dealing with slow motion, his way of exploring sound in relation to image to build his poetic universe. He multiplies the effects of sliding, alteration of movement, contraction and dilation of time – processes that allow him to explore the metaphor of passage, the memory of images that come and go, to question passing time.

"Taking time. Giving time. This is the movement that Robert Cahen’s films generate, as they transport viewers into the half-seen, the half-heard, in between images, into the wink (of an eye), into the beating (of an eyelash or a heart). Time is the substance, the very fabric of the work: standing at the intersection of art forms – music, electroacoustics, film, photography, video – the filmmaker explores infinite boundary crossings. The pace of time: its progress, pauses, movements, speeds. And the side-stepping of “no-time” which he examines: he puts time back into space, the multitude of time dimensions within us, he turns image events into invisible events. Makes room for dreams, memories, fantasies, blindness, oblivion – for nothings." (Mireille Calle-Gruber)

FILMS

Images du carnaval de Bâle, 22 min, 1973Karine, 8min, 1976Arrêt sur marche, 8min, 1979L'Entr'aperçu, 9min, 1981Artmatic, 4min, 1981Juste le temps, 13min, 1983Le Deuxième jour, 8min, 1988Hong Kong song, 21 min, 1989Solo, 4min, 1989Corps flottants, 13min, 1997L'Etreinte, 9min, 2003Sept visions fugitives, 32min, 1995Voyages d’hiver, 18min, 1993Sign, 10min, 2021