DELICATE SPELLS OF MIND - Trailer
Director: Lucy McRae
Synopsis: Delicate Spells of Mind occupies two worlds: that of a ‘Seeker’ and ‘Other’. The Seeker’s self-invented ‘practice’, appearing as acts of care and game, are her sincere attempts to flee from pain and error. With a dashboard of gadgets and controllers to calculate outcome, the Seeker attempts to pre-meditate the best outcome – anything to circumnavigate the incessant thoughts she doesn’t choose, but drives her.
Simultaneously, the ‘Other’s’ world is populated with a procession of dancers costumed in inoperable mocap suits, a committee, an organism, traveling and prostrating in search.
Switching between worlds, the Seeker and the Other are caught in a tug of war, grappling with a riddle of a rope – the ‘lifeline’ contraption. They eventually come to share the same plain of existence, emptying through movement, shape and ritual, to invite healing, where both Seeker and Other co-exist.
Designed to invite multiple interpretations, Delicate Spells of Mind approaches the spectator as a malleable subject for change and self-reflection, allowing for higher states of consciousness, where humanity, science, ethics, technology shapeshift, integrate and unite.
An existential voyage into psyche, Delicate Spells of Mind is an attempt to invite acceptance, belonging and learning to fit in as we are, rather than rooting out ego once and for all.
Bio: Lucy McRae is a science fiction artist, filmmaker, inventor and body architect. Her work speculates on the future of human existence by exploring the limits of the body, beauty, biotechnology and the self. McRae works across installation, film, photography, artificial intelligence and edible technology. She is regarded as a thought leader who is exploring the cultural and emotional impacts science and cutting edge technology have on redesigning the body. Lucy uses art as a mechanism to signal and provoke our ideologies and ethics about who we are and where we are headed. McRae has exhibited at museums, film festivals, institutes such as MIT, Ars Electronica and NASA and science forums across the world. Selected major artworks have been exhibited at Science Museum London, Centre Pompidou and the Venice Biennale. She is a visiting professor at SCI_Arc in Los Angeles; and is recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. McRae encourages scientific conversation and has spoken at TED, Royal Albert Hall, Cannes Lion and Tribeca Film Festival. She is regarded as a pioneer who blurs the boundaries across art, architecture, design and technology with a healthy disregard for labels that limit interdisciplinary practice.
Program: On The Edge – VAEFF 2022
