Suspended Animation is an audio/visual installation that examines the conditions of life in a temporary state of pause. This dialogue, in part, was influenced by some recent photographs made by trifocal projects co-founder Jessica Schwind. Her images of lake fish frozen in the ice block walls of the 2004 St. Paul Winter Carnival ice castle inspired the exploration of things that move in and out of this suspended cryogenic state. Included in the installation is a projected video titled “Suspended Conversation” that documents in slow motion a conversation between two people in sub-zero temperatures. The bubble-like forms of frozen breath flow gracefully from one person to another in fluid animation that makes visible both the life-sustaining act of breathing and dialogue between two people.

By forcing the viewer to experience life activities and living organisms through a veil of suspended animation that can mimic death in many ways, our understanding of active/life versus inert/death is heightened. In our day-to-day experience where we tend to make gross categorizations of our environment, “Suspended Animation” amplifies our sensitivity to the subtleties of life all around us.

 

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