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In 2002 I started initial thinking and dreaming about a work that would eventually become Inert (2006). In 2004 David Corbet, Shannon Bott, Cormac Lally, Scott Mitchell and I did some early work for the project, including shooting some video tests that ended up being in the performance.
One of these tests was a single close-up shot of Shannon and I individually looking down the lens of the video camera that Cormac had turned 90º into portrait mode. When Shannon was in shot, I was out of shot asking her to delicately respond through expression to particular ideas, memories and thoughts. Shannon did the same for me.
Last week I attempted to recreate the video, more or less 17 years later after the original was shot. I did this in response to screendance artist Dianne Reid’s invitation to me to create something for part of a residency she is currently working on.
In this version I used the original video as a guide or prompt to remember or respond. I don’t really know what it is — perhaps most obviously it is a meditation on ageing.
Here are the two side by side.
