Deliverance
Video Installation
37′ loop
20 x 2,8 meter film panorama
4 projectors, 4-channel video
5 channel surround sound
2005
Deliverance is a poetic and melancholic journey through recent history, memory, the human capacity for faith and the need for reconciliation. It alludes to manipulations and catastrophes but also to freedom of expression and liberation. It is a reflection on recent developments in the world that have somehow increased the importance of religion in creating conflict or, paradoxically, in seeking reconciliation or concordance.
The narrative flow is slow and meditative – a mantra of moving images that expose urban fringe areas such as the undersides of bridges, abandoned structures, fallen neighborhoods and the ruptures of city planning. These real places become illusory spaces that expose conditions of loneliness and vulnerability.The image sequences of industrial wastelands, hidden sanctuaries, museum pieces and other elements are intertwined with historical sound recordings.
We hear John Lee Hooker’s Tupelo Blues, recorded in 1959, and Bertolt Brecht’s statement from 1947 for the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ during the McCarthy era, as well as excerpts from a relaxation tape.
Commissioner: Celia Prado
National Historical Museum Stockholm, Sweden