Larson + Shindelman
Monday, 21 September 2009
Work from Witness.
“Marni Shindelman and Nate Larson took this one step further with one of the best presentations of the conference, “Witness: A Psychic Collaboration.” Citing an investigation of extra-sensory perception that was sponsored by the United States government in the 1980s, they examined the “Stargate Project” and create images and writings as a result of their own experimentation with its methods. What happened was again a playful interaction with pseudo-science, photography, and art. Whether the collaboration failed in its psychic attempts was not the point; rather, the resulting material Larson presented was unpretentious and hilarious. After an initial evaluation of some of their remote viewing experiments (that were sometimes congruent, other times unclear), Shindelman later re-paired some of the objects and images from a curatorial perspective, and the result was fascinating. For those of us who enjoy serendipitous association, it was reassuring to see how simple curiosity can evolve into a thoughtful collaboration and tear through the standard limitations of photography and academia.” – John Aasp for Aftermiage