terrified sterilized paralyzed
Today I watched the Paul Sharits film T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (1968) at the Anthology Film Archives. T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G is twelve minutes long and shot on 16mm film. Poet David Franks stars in the film, and the soundtrack features Franks’ voice incessantly repeating the word “destroy.”
This is what I heard while I experienced the film: “destroy destroy destroy destroy destroy the straw destroy the straw the straw de stroy de stroy de stroy des troy des troy des through oy des thrump oy this trump toy this trump toy this tri fried this terrified terrified terrified sterilized paralyzed terrified sterilized paralyzed terrify sterilize this end this ends me this ends me this ends me this ends me this ends me enzyme enzyme in mines in mines in mines roy mines roy dis high ness troy dis troy des troy destroy”
This is what I saw while I experienced the film: a nausiating flicker that I couldn’t take my eyes away from. I tried to look away, but the film hypnotized me. Then the film paralyzed me. While I was paralyzed, I saw something bad happen, but I saw the warning signs after it was too late; the damage was already done. I saw a tragedy occur before me, but I couldn’t stop the tragedy from occurring. The film paralyzed my mind as well as my body.
I also saw a series of afterimages layered upon the actual image in the film. The afterimages were in my eyes and the film was on the screen, yet I could not distinguish one from the other. And when I ignored the flashing colors and focused on the picture I saw scissors and tongue. I could taste metal in my mouth.
I want to see and hear more of Paul Sharits’ work. If I walk away from a piece of artwork wanting to see more work by that same artist, I know that that artist is great.