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Emily Wardill

Doctoral student

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When you fall into a trance

Author

  • Emily Wardill

Summary, in English

When you fall into a trance traces the relationships between Dominique, a neuroscientist, Simon, her patient, Tony, a synchronized swimmer, and Hugo, an aid worker. Simon is suffering from the loss of his proprioception, his sense of the relative position of his body parts as well as his understanding of the effort required to move them. His vision seems essential to his physical agency—if he cannot see his body, then the movement and control of his gestures become unmoored. As the film unfolds, Dominique’s fascination with the complexities of the mind-body relationship exemplified by Simon’s condition spins beyond her work and into her life.

When you fall into a trance places the characters, and us along with them, in an unstable orbit in which the perceptual aids of vision, location and language slide and refract, superimpose or splinter, and the supposed transparency of their role in our awareness of ourselves and others is called into question. Setting in motion the intricacies of human relationships, in which bodies betray words, and touch and music seduce memory, Wardill’s film is equally sinister and tender. Throughout the film, actions distort, gestures fracture, and deceptions are uncovered as the tension and release of bodies and speech reveal the complexities of memory and the possibilities of imagination.

Department/s

  • Malmö Art Academy

Publishing year

2014

Language

English

Document type

Artistic work

Topic

  • Visual Arts

Status

Published