Talk I Douglas Gordon’s 24 Hour Psycho Via Walter Benjamin

Talk I Douglas Gordon’s 24 Hour Psycho Via Walter Benjamin
Dr Kim Charnley, Associate Lecturer in Art History, Plymouth University
Walter Benjamin wrote that ‘there is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism’. This enigmatic statement seems ideally suited to describe Douglas Gordon’s 24 Hour Psycho, a video installation in which the Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is slowed down so that it plays at two frames per second for an entire day and night.
The ‘shower scene’ from Psycho has left an indelible mark on popular culture. Gordon’s work anticipates the iconic moment, and extend it, with excruciating gradualness. For this reason, 24 Hour Psycho can be read as a strangely contemplative provocation, interweaving a sophisticated reflection on time and aesthetics with celebration of insane brutality. Dir Kim Charnley, Associate Lecturer in Art History at Plymouth University explores this perspective on Gordon’s work through Benjamin’s cultural and aesthetic theory.

Date: 11 Oct
Time: 19:00-20:00 + time for questions
Venue: Theatre 2, Roland Levinksy Building, Plymouth University
Ticket information: £6/£4.20. Discounts available via the Artory App and free to Plymouth University students via SPIA.