A Levitation 2010

Performed at Château de Sacy, Sacy-le-Petit, France, 5 April 2010

Camera obscura and mixed media

Photography: Hugo Williams

A Levitation continues my interests in ideas of inversion and suspension. It is a pair of images: one ‘live’, and one mediated, via a camera obscura.

In the live image there is a table covered in a black cloth that also acts as a vertical backdrop. A figure lies face down on the black surface engaging an active pose, attempting to lift as much of the body from the surface as possible. The body is straight from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. The figure is still, tense, but for the quivering of muscle.

This live action is (per)formed in front of a pinhole camera obscura. Sat on top of a table, the camera is made from cardboard and gaffer-tape, finished with black paint. One at a time, an audience member sits at the table, leans their heads inside the box, and surrounds their shoulders with the pair of heavy black curtains to exclude all light. Gradually, their eyes become accustomed to the darkness, and slowly an image begins to appear, flickering on the transparent screen in front of them. The image is of a pale figure, hovering face-up in a dark space. Through the aid of the camera obscura, the viewer is able to witness a levitation.

Link to Hugo Williams' Commentary in The Times Literary Supplement, 16 April