“Selected Videos from the Collection of Jefferson Godard”

Phil Collins, installation view, the louder you scream, the faster we go, three promotional videos for three unsigned acts, 2005.

If it were possible to filter only the purest emotional experiences out of our overbooked daily existence, the result might look something like Phil Collins’s ten-minute video the louder you scream the faster we go, three promotional videos for three unsigned acts.

In the first of three shorts, the camera captures the energy of a teenage crowd at an outdoor concert: A boisterous boy makes out with his girlfriend, then waggles his tongue at the camera; another kid’s dark eyes well with tears as he bobs back and forth. Simple chords and drum beats play as more teens perform for the camera or sing and cheer, unaware of its presence. In the second part, a harder-rocking song accompanies a class of senior ladies practicing ballet and tap. Their cheerful smiles and unwavering concentration may move viewers to tears. Melodic guitar introduces the intimate final segment, in which a reclining, shirtless twentysomething guy—shown from the shoulders up—has an orgasm, possibly with the help of someone offscreen. Once it’s finished, he lies nearly still, staring into space until he looks directly at the camera.

Whether it feels self-conscious or unguarded and natural, each second of this video resonates with the viewer. Collins enables us to share every nuance of those pristine moments that, in our own lives, we tend to miss.