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Phantom in the Corner Staging a Gothic Spectacle

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Phantom in the Corner Staging a Gothic Spectacle phantom in the corner staging a gothic spectacle Kylie Banyard, Master of Fine Arts 2007, University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 1 contents 2 Introduction 6 Chapter One The hybridisation of Phantasmagoria and the Wunderkammer as an abridgment of and supplement to the spatial notions informing spectacle in the present. 9 Chapter Two The Phantasmagoria: Locating the origins of atmosphere, credulity and spectacle within aspects of the Gothic genre. 15 Chapter Three Sitting the female protagonist inside the constructed atmosphere of Gothic/Horror cinema. 28 Chapter Four Examining the dialogue between contemporary visual art and the lexicon of the Gothic/Horror spectacle. 46 Chapter Five Chamber of wonders: recognising and re-visiting ‘the archive’. 53 Chapter Six Contemplating the compendium: Contemporary Arts’ engagement with ‘the archive’. 59 Conclusion 60 Bibliography Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 1 introduction he origins of Phantasmagoria and the Wunderkammer are convergent T paradigms at the core of my research. Both of these archaic display methodologies were prominent modes of didactic entertainment in the late eighteenth century. They are devices that created a visual spectacle by inciting astonishment and curiosity in their audiences – and in some senses it could be argued are strongly precursive of cinema. My research is extrapolated out of an analytical engagement with the fundamental functions of Phantasmagoria and the Wunderkammer, namely those of atmosphere and display. My paper is divided into two inter-related parts; the fi rst concentrates on constructs, defi nitions and implications of Gothicity within the context of Phantasmagoria, Horror fi lms and contemporary art. It seeks to align my studio-based practice with contemporary artists’ who similarly engage with aspects of the Gothic spectacle. The second part considers the Wunderkammer in terms of its history and prefi guration of archival practices. The investigation of contemporary artists’ affi nity with redundant modes of display provides a theoretical platform for my conceptual engagement with the Wunderkammer. The objective of my research has been to collate reference material aligned to various modes of historic and theoretical enquiry, thereupon concluding my studies in the ‘staging’ of Phantom in the Corner an immersive multi-media installation. According to Hal Foster a distinctive turn has occurred in recent art, he describes, much art of the past decade as “works which fall somewhere Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 2 between public installation, an obscure performance and a private archive.” 1 He refers to Foucault’s theory of “discursive practice” 2 in reference to his notion of “art as informal probing into a specific figures or events in history or politics, fiction or philosophy.” 3 In this sense, shared attributes linking the artist’s work examined in chapters four and six are positioned within Foster’s reading of Foucault and locate my work in its theoretical vicinity. My practice refers to the signification and location of the female protagonist within the exaggerated atmosphere of Gothic/Horror cinema. Phantom in the Corner embodies a fragment and does not actualise a protagonist or portray a linear narrative; instead the viewer is presented with a series of suggestive components that infer traces of human presence. When the viewer first encounters the installation they encounter an illuminated freestanding wall. The space is sombre with the only light coming from within and behind the wall. Lighting is a fundamental cinematic device and crucial to this installation – as both, a point of reference and as an atmospheric tool. Coloured lighting and ambient sounds seeping from the cavity behind entice the viewer to approach, in tacit acknowledgment of the spectacle within. Evoking at the same time both the site of a ruin and a film set, the structure is decontexturalized by the gallery space – as though lifted from a fictional landscape. As a locus for the display of objects and illusions, the edifice with its thirteen recessed boxes is reminiscent of a cabinet-of-curiosities. Inside the boxes, overhead lights illuminate small still-life paintings of objects; prominence will be given to objects/props emblematic of femininity.4 Patricia White’s essay Female Spectator, Lesbian Specter: The Haunting outlines the role of female characters in Horror films by making the connection between signifiers of femininity and the domicile. Therefore the non space behind the wall evokes a film-set; the interior of a house, possibly a kitchen. Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 3 “In relation to the narrative work of classical cinema defined as the playing out of space (the house, the grave, the womb) as the very image of femininity that I wish to situate the story of the Haunting.” 5 Still from Suspiria (1977) Notes 1. Foster, H, “Arty Party”, London, Review of Books, vol. 25, no. 23, 2003 p1. 2. Hal Foster quotes Michel Foucault’s theory of ‘discursive practices’ as sourced from “The Archaeology of Knowledge”, Routledge, 1989. 3. Foster, Op. cit., p1. 4. The importance of the female protagonist to the Gothic spectacle of Horror films necessitates an emphasis on signifiers of gender construction, specifically: shoes, gloves jewellery and household utensils. The containerized renderings of objects symbolise eerie object fetishism. 5. White, P, “The Horror Reader: Female Spectator, Lesbian Specter: The Haunting”, ed. Ken Gelder, Routledge, 2000, p215. Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 4 “She partly arose, and spoke, in an earnest low whisper, of sounds which she then heard, but which I could not hear – of motions which she then saw, but which I could not perceive. The wind was rushing hurriedly behind the tapestries, and I wished to show her (what, let me confess it, I could not all believe) that those almost inarticulate breathings, and those very gentle variations of the figures upon the wall, were but the natural effects of that customary rushing of the wind. But a deadly pallor, over-spreading her face, had proved to me that my exertions to reassure her would be fruitless.” 6 Notes 6. Poe, E, A, “Ligeia, The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings”, Penguin Books, 1967, p.75. Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 5 Chapter One The hybridisation of Phantasmagoria and the Wunderkammer as an abridgment of and supplement to the spatial notions informing spectacle in the present. Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 6 n Devices of Wonder Francis Terpak cites early modes of display as embodiements of Ithe central role that visuality played in the act of learning in the seventeenth century. “By bringing the wondrous into the world at hand, the display cabinet (and the magic lantern) prepared the modern mind to expand the limits of its imagination and to be transported beyond the here and now.” 7 Spectatorship is a common thread linking Phantasmagoria to the Wunderkammer. Through variant modes of display, the central functions of both were to instil an atmosphere of wonder that promoted a visual spectacle, inciting awe and curiosity in their audiences. As previously mentioned, each of these archaic display methodologies were popular modes of entertainment, and they provided their audiences with an immersive sensory experience, recalling aspects of spectatorship common to contemporary cinema and in the age of elaborately designed block buster theme shows – the museological experience. Clockwise from left: Studio of Jean-Pierre Dantan (1800-1869), artist & date unknown; Fantasmagerie de Robertson dan tu Cour das Capucines on 1797, artist & date unknown; Fantasmagoria A View in Elephanta, artist & date unknown Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 7 The audience for a typical Phantasmagoria, with their desire to be ‘taken in’, sat in a dark room waiting for suspenseful images and sounds of spectres to flood their imaginations and test their nerves. The visitor to a Wunderkammer was free to roam a vast, often opulent hall, spending as much time as they liked investigating facets of an exotic collection. Whilst the fundamental aim of each display was to entertain and educate, the disparity between them is their method. The Phantasmagoria required a seated audience willing to passively submerge themselves in an onslaught of unfathomable projected images. The Wunderkammer required an ambulatory audience willing to actively investigate a variety of disparate objects, whilst also being able to step back and appreciate the relationships between them as a whole. Phantom in the Corner, actualises the similarities and disparities between the two display methodologies by deconstructing and re-figuring literal and metaphoric elements particular to each methodology. 8 From left: Kylie Banyard, Props sans Protagonist, preliminary exhibition at Blank Space, 2006; Kylie Banyard, video experiment for Phantom in the Corner, 2006 Notes 7. Terpak, F, “Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen – Objects and Contexts”, The Getty Research Institute Publications Program, 2001 p 164. 8. For example, shadow-play, stage-lighting and a soundtrack combine to dramatise the constructed environment in a similar way to the Phantasmagoria. The placement of the false-wall in the corner of gallery recalls the trend among Phantasmagoric shows to situate the screen for the projection of images in the corner of the room. The composition of the false–wall with its recessed boxes and decorative shelving make direct reference to the structural aspects of a cabinet of curiosity; as does the collection of images and objects it houses. Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 8 Chapter two Phantasmagoria: Indicating the origins of atmosphere, credulity and spectacle within aspects of the Gothic genre. Kylie Banyard Phantom in the Corner: Staging a Gothic Spectacle 9 The Devil’s Mansion, by Rex Jardin, Paper Back Library, 1966.
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