Francesca Verunelli: The famous box trick (2015)

Описание: The Famous Box Trick (2015) for bass flute and electronics
Performer: Phoebe Bognár

The Famous Box Trick (Illusions Fantasmagoriques) is a 1898 French short black-and-white silent trick film, directed by Georges Méliès. In the words of writer Michael Brooke, the film "hearkens back to stage magic.”
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I found fascinating the hybrid texture of the “trick” which allows the spectator to position himself in between the physical magic of the stage and the virtual “magic” of cinema - the corporeal vs. the incorporeal - biological time vs. the machine time.​

The spectator is suspended in between the belief in the trick and the conscious awareness of it. This is not the case in modern cinema, where the spectator is cut out from the “illusion” and can only believe in it from the “outside.”

​​The flute inhabits corporeal sounds, including the family of vocal sounds obtained by the complex interactions of the voice with the instrument. These are, paradoxically, made to sound “fake” by a sound-world of completely synthetic sounds realized by electronics means.

The result, like Meliès’ absurdist irony, is the reciprocal estrangement of the ontological nature of each sound-world.

— Francesca Verunelli

Credits:
Audio recording: Eguzki Irusta Salles
Audio mix and master: Francesca Verunelli, Eguzki Irusta Salles

Recorded in Bau3, Basel as part of the Density Arts Fellowship.

With immense gratitude to Claire Chase for her continuous support, benevolence and mentorship. Thank you for inviting me on board the Density Fellowship and guiding me through this project.

And to Francesca Verunelli, for her generosity of time and collaboration, giving me insight into realising her creative vision.
Performer: Phoebe Bognár