A New Chance for the Symbolic Dimension
2005
Video installation
Phosphorescent paint and single channel video
A New Chance for Symbolic Dimension (2005) is a video installation based on a scene from Ingmar Bergman's The Magician (Ansiktet, 1958), in which art and society, magic and art, are confronted.
A scene from the film is projected onto a phosphorescent screen, which retains a halo of images for a short time, creating a ghostly sensation. The work uses a clever application of mechanical magic to create a magical phenomenon that echoes the fakery and trickery of the film.
In this scene, the authorities of a small Swedish village at the beginning of the twentieth century, the doctor, the police and the governor, are investigating a troupe of showmen who have just arrived in town. The performers use occult techniques and optical tricks in their shows, which annoys the positivist spirit of the scientists and politicians. They humiliate the members of the troupe in the name of public safety. Dr Vogler (Max von Sidow) is the artist, representative of the sublime and uncertain, who confronts Dr Vergerus, Minister of Health, representative of the truth of science.
It was presented in Alma gallery in London in 2005, in the exhibition Nits fosques de l'ànima in Girona (Catalunya) in 2008, curated by Rosa Pera, and in ethall gallery (Barcelona) in 2016.
Nits fosques de l'ànima was a perfect occasion for the work, as it was shown with two perfect counterparts, by Toni Serra and Bill Viola.
