THE SWALLOW'S TAIL

30 April - 17 May 2014

Opening Night | Thursday 1 May 6-8pm

James L Marshall

James L Marshall’s practice synthesises the worlds of cinema and television, occult subculture, parapsychology and fine art to explore broad themes regarding the human condition. Marshall works in a wide range of media including sculpture, painting, photography and most recently in computer generated prints and video installations.

For The Swallow’s Tail Marshall presents all new work, including a single channel video, a sculpture and prints from his Untitled (Aura) series. Continuing his recent investigations, the exhibition addresses ideas of simulacrum, fate, and our relationship to technology.

IMAGES | James L. Marshall, Untitled Aura Print 8, 2013, Inkjet print behind tinted acrylic, 89 x 50 x 10cm.| Images courtesy of the artist. 

SKY, ELECTRIC WIRES, AND BUILDINGS over which can be heard the hum of the power transformers. The buildings and sky fade out, leaving just the wires.

WATERY BACKGROUND with the words
“If you stay in a place like this, you might not be able to connect.”

As she walks down the sidewalk, Lain's shadow reveals hidden red splotches.
The neighbourhood is particularly dense with overhead wires and their attendant hum.

E
Everything is now pure white. Lain tries to make out any kind of detail in the overwhelming light.

ARISU E-mail! (The e-mail!) LAIN E-mail?

WATERY BACKGROUND with the words
"What's it like when you die?" This is then replaced by a response: "It really hurts ! :)”

It is now late afternoon, meaning that the light has faded enough to make out details in the world again. The electrical lines are still there (both visually and aurally).

COMPUTER (V.O.) (continuing) “--I have only given up my body. By doing this, I can explain to you that I am still alive. I wanted to let you know

this, Lain, so I sent this e-mail to you. (I want the others to know, too, so I have sent them e-mails also.) Do you understand? It's okay if you can't right now. You will all understand soon. Everyone will.--

MIKA
(getting up)
I ate lunch late today. I'm done.

Mika leaves. Miho doesn't even notice.

An "O Y" welcome box brieey appears in all of the monitors. Yasuo uses his mouse to launch a program called "Oyaji.exe" on the monitor right in front of him. The menu selections for this program are "File", "Edit", "Primitives", "Lights", "Materials", "Curves", "Selection" and "Show". Yasuo selects "File", then "Deformation Parameters" to get a dialog box (other File selections were "Automatic Envelope", "Local Envelope", "Global Envelope", "Rigid Envelope", "Envelope Assistant", "Deformation Curves" and "Fast Interaction"). The dialog box, "OYJ Module Editor", has Name set to "isosurface" with the note "isosurface is an OYJ mapper

"--Rumor at school has it that this is a prank e-mail, but I want you to know that it isn't, Lain.--

m

The glow of sunlight is too bright to allow us to see outside.

WHITENESS

The sudden silence gradually becomes the sound of something dripping on a soft surface.

FADE IN :

Excerpts from original transcript by McPoodle, 1998.