Tuesday 13 March 2012

Vanished!

 

https://vimeo.com/7847517

Vanished! - A Video Séance (1999), a video work made by the artist (sculptor, poet and performer) Brian Catling and screenwriter Tony Grisoni, greets you with the sound of wind and a photo of a house in the countryside surrounded by nothing in terms of human civilisation. This brief glimpse of the house is where the ‘Dalby Spook’ occurred. The image changes individually to the necks of the three family members that are in the video accompanied by discomforting gulps and other strange sounds. At over an hour and consisting only of portrait shots of the family members the video is uncompromising and yet arresting. The rigidity of the séance/portrait shot format adds emphasis potently to the actors’ gazes, sudden shrieks and changes in pitch - culminating into layers of intense absurdity, sometimes humour, even fear and always leaving you confused and with a sense of wonder at the subject that is Jeff the mongoose.

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