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[sounds of camera shutter rhythmically repeating]

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[Performance dome]

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[Liz Magic Laser, Artist]

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[Liz has decoded the unspoken[br]language of political rhetoric.]

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[Two presidential speeches are[br]being performed...without words.]

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[Alan Good, Dancer]

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[Cori Kresge, Dancer]

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[Seven weeks earlier]

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[LIZ MAGIC LASER][br]--Okay, so I’ll start the camera going.

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[sounds of camera shutter rhythmically repeating]

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[Chelsea, Manhattan]

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[Liz Magic Laser Talks to the Hand]

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So we were just working through[br]Obama's most recent State of the Union.

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[BARACK OBAMA][br]--Mr. Speaker,

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--Mr. Vice President,

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--members of Congress...

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[LASER] We had it on mute.

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--[OBAMA] ...distinguished guests...

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[LASER] We were looking exclusively at [br]his arm and hand gestures.

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For instance the first gesture we decided was[br]"Here I am".

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--Here I am.

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--Left over right.

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--Interlace.

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[LASER AND KRESGE IN, UNISON][br]--Point,

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--one, two, three, four, five, six.

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[BOTH LAUGH]

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--[KRESGE] Left over right.

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--[LASER] Let's also play with the pacing,

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--maybe try to go twice the speed.

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--Is it too fast?

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[KRESGE] I think I’ve always seen[br]politics as something very abstract.

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What are they saying?

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--[OBAMA] Some financial firms[br]violate major anti-fraud laws because...

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[KRESGE] What do they mean when they’re saying that?

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I find it more accessible to just[br]look at their body language.

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I'm not really even thinking about what he's saying.

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--[OBAMA] That's not right.

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--Americans know that's not right.

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[KRESGE] I usually tune that part out, to be honest.

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[LAUGHS]

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[LASER] I was struck by the virtuosity of[br]Obama's movement.

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And I started to wonder about the choreography[br]that is being used

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to persuade the public.

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These rhetorical techniques can be traced back[br]to Francois Delsarte.

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He developed a system of oratory to teach[br]actors, priests, and politicians

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how to to win over their audience.

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He talks about this imaginary cube[br]that you have in front of you.

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Touching the bottom side means[br]you're going to take care of people.

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And on top, you're communicating that you have possession--

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that you have control over the issues at hand.

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Our working title for the piece is, "The Digital Face".

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Why would Delsarte call something the digital face[br]in the 19th century?

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Five digits means five fingers,

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so he's talking about the drama of the hands.

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And so I started to look back at[br]previous State of the Union addresses.

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[JIMMY CARTER][br]--We will meet these threats to peace.

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[LASER] I had assumed that Reagan would be[br]the first to be animated,

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but he just held his script

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and he didn’t move his hands or arms at all.

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The camera pulls back but he’s still not using his hands.

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[RONALD REAGAN][br]--...and God bless America.

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[LASER] The first president to use his hands and[br]arms quite actively was Bush Sr.

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[GEORGE H.W. BUSH][br]--And he begins his speech to his fellow citizens[br]with these words--

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--words of a distant revolution. [br]We hold these truths to be self-evident...

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[Six week later]

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[LASER] I decided to put Bush Sr. into a gestural dialogue with Obama,

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to show how politicians have come to maximize[br]the efficiency of every move they make.

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--[OBAMA] Nearly one trillion dollars...

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[LASER] Speech coaches use the camera as a tool to dissect and perfect individual movements.

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In turn, we used stop action photography[br]during the rehearsal

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to optimize the mechanics[br]of the performer's movements.

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--I should really get a rehearsal going.

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We decided to amplify the sound of[br]the camera shutter clicking.

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This tone of mechanical efficiency became[br]the soundtrack to the piece.

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[ALAN GOOD] I saw two things from Bush.

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One was, he's a snake in the sense[br]that he pounces quickly

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with no muscle coiling beforehand.

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These very quick hand movements that came out of nowhere...

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It's kind of like being knifed.

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--[LASER] Great.

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--Fantastic.

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--Let's do it one more time.

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[KRESGE] Liz and I would come up with[br]our own little language for Obama.

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It would be like a spank.

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Or not looking at the thing that you're[br]talking about because it's bad

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or it's not American.

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There’s a subliminal quality.

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--[LASER] Okay, great. [APPLAUDS]

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--Let's do it.

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[KRESGE] There's one moment that I really love.

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He's talking about, "This generation[br]knows that we will only endure..."

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--[OBAMA] Our way of life will only endure...

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[KRESGE] He does this delicate plucking of some flower.

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It's like he's suddenly heartbroken and [br]asking the nation to endure with him.

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[GOOD] In the United States, there's a general[br]fear and loathing

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of the power of government.

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I feel this piece is saying,

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there is a system of gestures,[br]unbeknownst to us,

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that looks into us and is being perfected as we speak.

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[One week later]

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[LASER] We are living in strange days

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where performance itself has become the dominant instrument of power.

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The style of someone's delivery ends up[br]foreclosing the real content.

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As spectators, we're being treated as[br]lab rats to be impressed.

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I'm asking myself,

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"Can we reclaim some agency by getting our hands[br]on the tools of mass communication?"