De Magnete

De Magnete is a 16mm film responding to the theories of 16th c. scientist William Gilberd. The piece is a poetic interpretation of Gilberd’s belief that the world possessed a soul. It is his related discovery of electrostatic properties and magnetism through experiments with amber and lodestones which won him the title of the Father of Electrcity. In De Magnete the viewer is taken on an uncanny journey through a pine forest, the camera acts as a hidden force drawing the viewer further into the forest. As dusk falls so the camera reaches its destination; radiating through the darkness is a neon sign reading Gillberds scientific quest, to find the soul of material. De Magnete was commissioned by firstsite in Colchester