Famed Dandy Strangler, Heckler’s Joy (2011)

Video Art Installation 

(Collaborator • Editor)

 

S Y N O P S I S

 

Collaboration with Photographer Scott Hilton, MFA, Senior Lecturer in Photography, University of Texas at Arlington.
 
Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was first published in 1886 and quickly entered the public consciousness as a shorthand metaphor for the duality of human nature. This video installation uses clips from various film adaptations of the novel spanning the past century to explore narrative and thematic questions regarding conflicting desires and codes of human morality. A survey of available films reveals multiple forms of binary representation appearing in every version. These oppositions include doctor/murderer, human/monster, man/animal, good/evil, repressive/expressive, rational/irrational, and even male/female.
 
Upon entering the darkened space viewers encounter a floating projection screen consisting of a sheet of clear Plexiglas hanging from the ceiling. The video plays on a continuous loop, appearing in the middle of the room, visible from both sides of the screen. Viewers are free to walk around the space while watching the video, encountering various small objects, including a smoking phial of the doctor’s formula.
 

 

E X H I B I T I O N   R E C O R D

 

2011 500X Gallery Dallas, Texas —Video Art Installation, May 7th – 29th

 

 

 

C R E D I T S

 

g e n r e / c a t e g o r y :  Video Art Installation

c o l l a b o r a t i o n   b y :  Kelly Wittenberg and Scott Hilton

r e s e a r c h :  Scott Hilton and Kelly Wittenberg

a r t / d e s i g n / c o n s t r u c t i o n :  Scott Hilton

e d i t i n g :  Kelly Wittenberg

t o t a l   r u n n i n g   t i m e :  5:25 minutes

 

 

 

T H E   F I L M S

 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dir. Lucious Henderson. Perf. James Cruz and Henry Benham. Thanhouser, 1912. Internet Archive. Web. (Earliest surviving film version) <https://archive.org/details/Dr.JekyllAndMr.Hyde1912>

 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dir. Herbert Brenon. Perf. King Baggot. Independent Moving Pictures Company of America, 1913. Internet Archive. Web. <https://archive.org/details/DrJekyllAndMrHyde1913>

 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dir. John S. Robertson. Perf. John Barrymore. Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, 1920. Internet Archive. Web. <https://archive.org/details/DrJekyllandMrHyde?start=4679.5>

 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dir. Rouben Mamoulian. Perf. Fredric March. Paramount, 1931. Film. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde_%281931_film%29>

 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dir. Victor Fleming. Perf. Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1941. Film. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde_%281941_film%29>

 

Vidal, Gore, adapt. “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” By Robert Louis Stevenson. Perf. Michael Rennie. Climax! Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). 28 July 1955. Television. Internet Archive. Web. <https://archive.org/details/Climax-DrJekyllAndMrHyde>

 

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde. Dir. Roy Ward Baker. Perf. Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick. Hammer Film Productions, 1971. Film. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jekyll_and_Sister_Hyde>

 

Mary Reilly. Dir. Stephen Frears. Perf. John Malkovich and Julia Roberts. TriStar Pictures, 1996. Film. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Reilly_%28film%29>

 

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