A Night with Alex Tatarsky

The word cinema is an abbreviation of the French cinématographe, a term coined by the Lumière Brothers, who combined the Greek words for “movement” and “writing” to describe this new form of expression. As part of Triple Canopy Presents: Magic, Alex Tatarsky—2025 Triple Canopy fellow—will share a local clown’s take on “movement writing.” Tatarsky will present research and workshop characters live with the audience for a new piece of fiction that considers American traditions of conjuring and spirit channeling in the lineage of experimental improvisational performance. Part lecture, part seance, Tatarsky’s performance draws on the researcher and artist Shannon Taggart’s investigations into spectral photography and “spirit cinema” to investigate the life of objects and the material of spirit.