SUSAN MACWILLIAM
REMOTE VIEWING
Northern Ireland at the 53rd Venice Biennale 2009
From a Parisian cellar, 2005, where Madame Yvonne Duplessis and her colleagues conduct fingertip vision experiments; to Winnipeg 1931, where Flammarion - the French astronomer and psychical researcher's name appears as a teleplasm on the back of a séance cabinet; to 1950s New York, where Eileen J Garrett the Irish born medium is working with Aldous Huxley exploring the psychic possibilities of LSD – the video works and installations of Susan MacWilliam transport us to other worlds and other times.
Through participation in experiments, detailed exploration of archives and interviews with leading researchers and families of the subjects, MacWilliam has developed a dense and expansive body of work which mediates between the art world and that of psychical research. MacWilliam has lived with the 92 year old daughter of Eileen J Garrett, has worked with Bill Roll - one of the world's leading poltergeist investigators and has participated with surprisingly good results in the Dermo Optical perception experiments of Yvonne Duplessis.
MacWilliam’s video installations immerse the audience in the anecdote and visual detail of extraordinary stories and histories.
The exhibition Remote Viewing presents 3 video installations:
F-L-A-M-M-A-R-I-O-N, Eileen and Dermo Optics
F-L-A-M-M-A-R-I-O-N
2009, Video, 17:13min
This new work is specially commisioned for the 53rd Venice Biennale.
In 1931 a ‘teleplasm’ spelling out the name Flammarion appeared on the wall of a cabinet at a séance in Winnipeg. Camille Flammarion, 1842–1925, was a French astronomer and psychical researcher and his name appeared at Thomas Glendenning Hamilton’s sitting of June 10th, 1931. F-L-A-M-M-A-R-I-O-N features a reconstruction of T. G. Hamilton’s séance cabinet, the Belfast poet Ciaran Carson, Atlanta-based Danish-American poltergeist investigator Dr. William G. Roll and Arla Marshall, Canadian granddaughter of Hamilton’s Scottish sitter Susan Marshall. Recorded in three cities across the globe Carson, Roll and Marshall come together in F-L-A-M-M-A-R-I-O-N and respond to the image of the teleplasm.
Eileen
2008, Synchronised three-channel video installation, 29:53min
The subject of Eileen is the Irish-born medium Eileen J. Garrett, 1893–1970, one of the most celebrated psychics of the twentieth century and founder of Creative Age Press publishing house and the Parapsychology Foundation, New York. Eileen features Garrett’s daughter Eileen Coly, her granddaughter Lisette Coly and parapsychologists Dr. Stanley Krippner, Dr. William G. Roll and Dr. Rex Stanford.
Dermo Optics
2006, Video, 4:09min
Dermo Optics is an account of the artist’s visit to the Dermo-Optical laboratory of Madame Yvonne Duplessis, Paris. Duplessis and her colleagues are observed as they demonstrate the experimental apparatus in the cellar laboratory. The artist also participates with surprisingly good results.
Location of Northern Ireland at the 53rd Venice Biennale:
Istitute Provinciale Per L'Infanzia
Santa Maria della Pieta, Calle de la Pieta, Castello, 3703A,
Nearest Vaporetto stop: San Zaccaria
FURTHER DETAILS AND LINKS http://www.susanmacwilliam.com/
MAP TO VENUE AND OPENING HOURS http://www.susanmacwilliam.com/venice_map.htm
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