Visual StudiesAvery Lawrence
PALINGENESIA
"ANOTHER MAN CUT UP TONIGHT": As a finale to each performance Dr. Lynn, wielding a machete, invited an audience member to join him on stage. He sat his victim down and proceeded with a violent dismemberment. The public homicide ended dramatically with a decapitation. The flailing torso was then reunited with its components as Dr. Lynn guided the arms and legs back into place. He called this trick Palingenesia. Dr. Lynn, a popular stage magician during the 19th century, utilized his knowledge of optics and his mastery of misdirection to create a magic specifically engineered to entertain. He catered to the denizens of a new popular culture who sought entertainment through the suspension of disbelief. In this re-conjuring of Palingenesia, using the aesthetic of 19th century vadevillian entertainment, I explore the magical tendencies of art and optics and ask the audience to submit to the magic and manifest their own virtual world of the illusory.