Point, line, particles

This video shows a performance in which the artist revisits the principles of formal composition, outlined by Wassily Kandinsky in his work entitled “Point and Line to Plane” (1926). In this book Kandinsky defines the line as the result of a combination of a point in movement and the expression of the force of an action.
Fayçal Baghriche illustrates Kandinsky’s concept by choosing a train as a surface. At the moment the train departs, the artist begins to spray a point on the wagon’s surface by simply pressing down on the spray-can’s valve. The resulting point becomes a line as soon as the train accelerates. Finally, the line disappears as the train reaches a speed at which the paint can no longer adhere to its surface. Herewith the artist’s meagre intervention reduces the train to its simple form and its elementary speed.