Photos : Juan Downey’s The Laughing Alligator (1979) movie.
Article Related : Mimetic Exchange,  Michael Taussig on Juan Downey and Jean Rouch

THE MAGIC OF ELECTRICITY 

I investigated masks as part of rituals in New Guinea, I wanted to explore whether I could translate the magic of those rituals into something that might also have validity in contemporary society.

I continued to work on the theme within the frame of the theme ‘Ecstasy’, and tried to evoke the magic of various high tech devises, things we don’t necessarily see but experience intensely.
Electricity, for instance, is powerfully present in our daily lives, but usually we take it for granted that things simply work, that a lamp simply functions. 

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Bibliography_Links&Research

- Claude Levi Strauss, La pensée Sauvage.
- Michael Taussig on Juan Downey and Jean Rouch, Mimetic Exchange.
- Michael Taussig, Mimesis and Alterity.
- Modernity VS Myths, Feather plumes and pearlshells, art from the New Guinea highlands.