In September 2001, Gussin undertook a journey to a place called Askja, in what is known as the ‘lunar desert’ of Iceland. As he was travelling through this remote and featureless landscape, a remote viewer – an individual with paranormal abilities who has been trained to see over great distances – was asked to track his movements and pinpoint his location.
A filmic record of these simultaneous events forms the basis of this stunning two-screen video installation commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella, staged in the cavernous space of the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station.
On one screen we see a series of shots of the barren and otherworldly, but strangely beautiful landscape filmed on Gussin’s journey through Iceland. A second screen, placed directly opposite the first, depicts the remote viewer seated at a table in a film studio. The background is bright white and hanging before him, obscuring his face as you look directly at him, is a black oblong screen onto which he projects his thoughts. The only sound that can be heard is the remote viewer drawing and breathing as he attempts to track Gussin’s whereabouts.
Much of the science of remote viewing was developed by the CIA during the Cold War who used remote viewers as spies. More recently, organisations such as the FBI have used them to trace kidnap victims.
Remote Viewer was commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella in association with Ikon Gallery. Supported by the National Touring Programme of the Arts Council of England.
