Strain Andromeda The
Anne McGuire
1992 | 126 min | Colour | Digital

As a project of complete appropriation, Anne McGuire’s Strain Andromeda The exacts a methodology at home with the many processes and tests conducted by the scientists and physicians depicted within its source. Her version of The Andromeda Strain, Robert Wise’s adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel, reverses the film, every shot re-cut so that the last becomes the first, and the first becomes the last. The shots themselves play in forward moving time, their ordering does not. With the bindings of montage loosened, new threads emerge with unexpected connections as well as disorientations. In the unravelling of standardized narrative cohesion, the effect can be seen to emerge before the cause. McGuire’s version opens up the gaps in filmic syntax, releasing strains of narrative possibility.

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Part of the screening series Its origins are indeterminate that examines the concept of “language-as-a-virus.” As carriers of meaning, words and images are vulnerable to intervention and corruption. The works presented test and bend the limits of language, send out new versions of media to spread, and breakdown systems of controlling grammar.

The series continues at Whitechapel Gallery on March 17 with three programmes featuring an array of international artists: www.whitechapelgallery.org/its-origins-are-indeterminate

Its origins are indeterminate is curated by Erik Martinson and is supported by the inaugural Stuart Croft Foundation Special Projects Award.

With thanks to Video Data Bank: www.vdb.org