http://rhizome.org/discuss/21203/
A common trope in portmanteau horror films and psychological shockers is the animate ventriloquist's dummy. There are two common variants of this scenario: the posessed dummy and the insane ventriloquist. Now imagine a film where the ventriloquist's delusion is that their possessed dummy is not in fact speaking, and that they must speak for them. http://rhizome.org/discuss/21379/ Imagine a horror film about an insane ventriloquist who believes that his possessed dummy is talking. What he believes the dummy to be saying is not what the dummy is saying. The dummy can appeal to the audience, but the ventriloquist will not understand the audience's reactions. Especially when the dummy tells the audience that the ventriloquist thinks it wants him to murder his wife. How can the ventriloquist silence the dummy? Even if he destroys it or exorcises it he will only silence its real voice. He will still hear what he thinks it is saying. And if his insanity is diagnosed and treated after this, he will still be unaware of what he has actually done. [I was talking about managerialist approaches to curation and art history that reduce artworks to illustrations of theory.] _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
