Spiral

The two-channel video installation Spiral is the result of a collaboration between Douglas Gordon and singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. Accompanying Wainwright's 2010 tour with songs from the album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, Gordon created visuals based on 1,000 fps recordings of Wainwright's heavily made up eyes.

The work features Wainwright's melancholic song Zebulon. Video and audio form a congenial single piece virtuously exploring the fine line between what some consider true emotion and others kitsch. Wainwright's exposed eyes open and close so slowly under the huge amount of makeup, that they are displaced from the singer's body and almost become autonomous beings.

NOWNESS: Making Eyes