Ghost Tape (An experiment)

"As I...moved left to right I could see the tape kind of moving in and out of the place, the place here being both the recording and the place in which I am right now." (Lucas)

I filmed danger-tape left over from forestry work vibrating in the wind. The next day it was gone. Viewing footage of the tape-flutter from the same vantage in the woods, filmed at the dimensions we see the world, one eye looking through the viewfinder and the other open on the live scene, the two views merged. There were the (real) trunks among the green but they were now bound up with (virtual) plastic tape. The illusion had a physical presence, and, due to the fluid way my vision prioritised light and movement in the merged view, I was unsure what was here and now. Testers spoke of this as a pleasurable discombobulation, which led to them seeing the place more vividly afterwards.

"Woah, what happened there? It was like my senses couldn't quite compute it and then I realised there wasn't a red thing there..."(Del)

​"Super cool! I literally saw a bird flying out of the camera. (laughs) That's really nice. That's a piece of magic." (Nina)

"Rachel walked into the recording(laughs). You have to teach me how you managed to walk into the past!" (Lucas) 

Photo: Shalini Gagoomal testing installation in Schumacher woods.​