1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:05,240 [sounds of camera shutter rhythmically repeating] 2 00:00:05,340 --> 00:00:06,700 [Performance dome] 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:11,440 [Liz Magic Laser, Artist] 4 00:00:12,900 --> 00:00:16,180 [Liz has decoded the unspoken language of political rhetoric.] 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,280 [Two presidential speeches are being performed...without words.] 6 00:00:19,820 --> 00:00:21,260 [Alan Good, Dancer] 7 00:00:21,900 --> 00:00:23,220 [Cori Kresge, Dancer] 8 00:00:35,380 --> 00:00:36,980 [Seven weeks earlier] 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:43,840 [LIZ MAGIC LASER] --Okay, so I’ll start the camera going. 10 00:00:44,660 --> 00:00:47,300 [sounds of camera shutter rhythmically repeating] 11 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,080 [Chelsea, Manhattan] 12 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:00,300 [Liz Magic Laser Talks to the Hand] 13 00:01:02,020 --> 00:01:07,520 So we were just working through Obama's most recent State of the Union. 14 00:01:07,820 --> 00:01:08,880 [BARACK OBAMA] --Mr. Speaker, 15 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:10,740 --Mr. Vice President, 16 00:01:11,980 --> 00:01:13,120 --members of Congress... 17 00:01:13,500 --> 00:01:14,820 [LASER] We had it on mute. 18 00:01:14,820 --> 00:01:16,060 --[OBAMA] ...distinguished guests... 19 00:01:17,780 --> 00:01:22,020 [LASER] We were looking exclusively at his arm and hand gestures. 20 00:01:22,380 --> 00:01:25,940 For instance the first gesture we decided was "Here I am". 21 00:01:25,940 --> 00:01:27,040 --Here I am. 22 00:01:27,580 --> 00:01:28,920 --Left over right. 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:33,040 --Interlace. 24 00:01:35,100 --> 00:01:36,020 [LASER AND KRESGE IN, UNISON] --Point, 25 00:01:36,020 --> 00:01:38,780 --one, two, three, four, five, six. 26 00:01:38,780 --> 00:01:39,680 [BOTH LAUGH] 27 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:40,780 --[KRESGE] Left over right. 28 00:01:42,540 --> 00:01:44,520 --[LASER] Let's also play with the pacing, 29 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:47,180 --maybe try to go twice the speed. 30 00:01:52,340 --> 00:01:54,520 --Is it too fast? 31 00:01:54,680 --> 00:02:00,900 [KRESGE] I think I’ve always seen politics as something very abstract. 32 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:02,780 What are they saying? 33 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:06,320 --[OBAMA] Some financial firms violate major anti-fraud laws because... 34 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,460 [KRESGE] What do they mean when they’re saying that? 35 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:14,680 I find it more accessible to just look at their body language. 36 00:02:15,260 --> 00:02:18,480 I'm not really even thinking about what he's saying. 37 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:19,720 --[OBAMA] That's not right. 38 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:22,000 --Americans know that's not right. 39 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,000 [KRESGE] I usually tune that part out, to be honest. 40 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:27,780 [LAUGHS] 41 00:02:32,620 --> 00:02:36,500 [LASER] I was struck by the virtuosity of Obama's movement. 42 00:02:36,900 --> 00:02:41,800 And I started to wonder about the choreography that is being used 43 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:43,520 to persuade the public. 44 00:02:45,580 --> 00:02:49,820 These rhetorical techniques can be traced back to Francois Delsarte. 45 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,760 He developed a system of oratory to teach actors, priests, and politicians 46 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:57,500 how to to win over their audience. 47 00:02:59,620 --> 00:03:04,140 He talks about this imaginary cube that you have in front of you. 48 00:03:04,700 --> 00:03:08,500 Touching the bottom side means you're going to take care of people. 49 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,420 And on top, you're communicating that you have possession-- 50 00:03:13,420 --> 00:03:17,920 that you have control over the issues at hand. 51 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,320 Our working title for the piece is, "The Digital Face". 52 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,820 Why would Delsarte call something the digital face in the 19th century? 53 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:29,840 Five digits means five fingers, 54 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:34,940 so he's talking about the drama of the hands. 55 00:03:34,940 --> 00:03:39,100 And so I started to look back at previous State of the Union addresses. 56 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:41,900 [JIMMY CARTER] --We will meet these threats to peace. 57 00:03:43,300 --> 00:03:48,000 [LASER] I had assumed that Reagan would be the first to be animated, 58 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,040 but he just held his script 59 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,860 and he didn’t move his hands or arms at all. 60 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,240 The camera pulls back but he’s still not using his hands. 61 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,260 [RONALD REAGAN] --...and God bless America. 62 00:04:00,260 --> 00:04:08,920 [LASER] The first president to use his hands and arms quite actively was Bush Sr. 63 00:04:08,940 --> 00:04:13,520 [GEORGE H.W. BUSH] --And he begins his speech to his fellow citizens with these words-- 64 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,880 --words of a distant revolution. We hold these truths to be self-evident... 65 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:19,360 [Six week later] 66 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:26,400 [LASER] I decided to put Bush Sr. into a gestural dialogue with Obama, 67 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:32,580 to show how politicians have come to maximize the efficiency of every move they make. 68 00:04:32,580 --> 00:04:34,580 --[OBAMA] Nearly one trillion dollars... 69 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:41,360 [LASER] Speech coaches use the camera as a tool to dissect and perfect individual movements. 70 00:04:43,340 --> 00:04:46,960 In turn, we used stop action photography during the rehearsal 71 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,100 to optimize the mechanics of the performer's movements. 72 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,360 --I should really get a rehearsal going. 73 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:03,000 We decided to amplify the sound of the camera shutter clicking. 74 00:05:03,900 --> 00:05:09,420 This tone of mechanical efficiency became the soundtrack to the piece. 75 00:05:11,780 --> 00:05:14,540 [ALAN GOOD] I saw two things from Bush. 76 00:05:14,540 --> 00:05:18,800 One was, he's a snake in the sense that he pounces quickly 77 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,420 with no muscle coiling beforehand. 78 00:05:22,900 --> 00:05:27,980 These very quick hand movements that came out of nowhere... 79 00:05:27,980 --> 00:05:29,980 It's kind of like being knifed. 80 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:32,440 --[LASER] Great. 81 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:34,680 --Fantastic. 82 00:05:35,420 --> 00:05:36,400 --Let's do it one more time. 83 00:05:41,260 --> 00:05:44,840 [KRESGE] Liz and I would come up with our own little language for Obama. 84 00:05:45,940 --> 00:05:48,000 It would be like a spank. 85 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:54,280 Or not looking at the thing that you're talking about because it's bad 86 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:55,960 or it's not American. 87 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,040 There’s a subliminal quality. 88 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,060 --[LASER] Okay, great. [APPLAUDS] 89 00:06:03,060 --> 00:06:03,620 --Let's do it. 90 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,520 [KRESGE] There's one moment that I really love. 91 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:26,580 He's talking about, "This generation knows that we will only endure..." 92 00:06:26,580 --> 00:06:29,620 --[OBAMA] Our way of life will only endure... 93 00:06:30,820 --> 00:06:35,000 [KRESGE] He does this delicate plucking of some flower. 94 00:06:35,660 --> 00:06:42,580 It's like he's suddenly heartbroken and asking the nation to endure with him. 95 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,320 [GOOD] In the United States, there's a general fear and loathing 96 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:48,640 of the power of government. 97 00:06:48,940 --> 00:06:50,560 I feel this piece is saying, 98 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,760 there is a system of gestures, unbeknownst to us, 99 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,840 that looks into us and is being perfected as we speak. 100 00:06:58,520 --> 00:06:59,840 [One week later] 101 00:06:59,940 --> 00:07:02,640 [LASER] We are living in strange days 102 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:08,720 where performance itself has become the dominant instrument of power. 103 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:18,040 The style of someone's delivery ends up foreclosing the real content. 104 00:07:20,980 --> 00:07:26,620 As spectators, we're being treated as lab rats to be impressed. 105 00:07:28,260 --> 00:07:29,920 I'm asking myself, 106 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:38,520 "Can we reclaim some agency by getting our hands on the tools of mass communication?"