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An abstract film of vertical horror, absence and descent (After Marcel Duchamp’s painting, ‘Nude Descending a Staircase’, 1912) composed in-camera by optically manipulating an individual frame of hand-painted film. With electronic music track by David McKenzie. The film frame was painted in a single stroke to imitate the blurring of images produced by the opening and closing of the eyelid; and by film slippage (a common fault, where damaged film runs through the camera or projector gate without stopping). Subtle movements of reflected light on the film surface and parallax camera motion animate the painting; which, in tandem with the music, creates a sense of apprehension, suspense and nausea. “the static image attempts to mimic or reproduce the sensation of movement in the abstract, like the shorthand cartoon blur, the Duchampian irony of movement in stasis descending and ascending all over again” – Steven Ball