2007
An alchemist and a feral child pull along a tight line bridging control and chaos. The characters teeter between extreme states, embodied by stylised performances and by constructed stage sets: a symmetrical arcade contrasts with a cave full of junk. Fake and real vines snake between the split geography, and a ‘Frankenstein’-like story unfolds along these paths.
Harpstrings and Lava seeks to channel the tension inherent in certain nightmares, specifically in one friend’s ghoulish fantasy about clashing contradictions. In this particular recurrent dream, tensile harpstrings and viscous lava inhabited the same space simultaneously, creating a sensation of visceral dread. Harpstrings and Lava aims to gently animate such ‘hyper-real’ dream images, drawing the viewer closer to the feeling of inexorable, anxious attachment shared by the onscreen characters.
Cast
Nina Fog
Zeena Parkins
Crew
Composer and Sound Designer
Zeena Parkins
Director of Photography
Nina Kellgren
Editor
Guy Ducker
Line Producer
Tom Dingle
Production Manager
Ioanna Karavela
First Camera Assistant
Mike Green
Second Camera Assistant
John Hurley
Camera 2 Operator
Neus Olle
Camera 2 Assistant
Alison Lai
Gaffer
Ewan Cassidy
Sparks
Suzie Willett
Annika Sommerson
Sound Recordist
Mike Hasler
Sound Mixer
Quentin Chiappetta
Additional Music
Ikue Mori
Shelley Hirsch
Still Photographer
Thierry Bal
Makeup Artist
Caroline Weston
Art Department Assistants
Karolina Raczynska
Erica Cheung
Taka Goto
Jacob Wolff
Charlotte Crowther
Daniel Yeo
Amanda Simon
Thanks to
Nina Folkersma
RoseLee Goldberg
Candida Gertler
Maureen Paley
Phillipe Van Cauteren
Esa Nickle
Len Thornton
Sweet Love Café
Wallis Gallery
Watermill Center
Commissioned by
Outset, London
Performa, New York
SMAK, Ghent