Las Vegas, Salt Lake City scripts

2 X 3.7 x 2.1m SD projections 7:58 (4:58 clip)

Although seperate in the installation, the two city movies are placed together here for demonstration purposes.

Urim:Cursed:Left:Las Vegas Voice - Tom Clarke-Hill	Thummim:Faultless:Right: Salt Lake City Voice - Todd Schick
The throng of the city seems so gentle from within those walls. I am lucky to find this view, while looking for something else, it happens like that sometimes. I remember walking towards the empty spaces as the sound of the city became louder. The closer I moved towards the light the more I wanted to retreat to the shade. Somehow looking through these spaces makes things easier. I wonder if I’ll find a similar place? Somewhere to retreat to; somewhere that will provide a letterbox and only keep what’s important and what is ordered depending on my decisions. A kind of personal aesthetic order that is so rarely found. A kind of order that is achieved by being in some way selective but relying on chance and external factors to make the invisible appear.	The throng of the city is clear within these walls. I am lucky with this view, a building that was once there, now flattened, a new one growing by the day. I remember walking inside as the sound became louder. The closer I moved towards the light the more I wanted to retreat to the shade. Somehow looking through these openings makes things easier. I wonder if I’ll find a similar place? Somewhere to withdraw to; somewhere that will letterbox things and only keep what’s important and what is ordered depending on my decisions. A kind of personal aesthetic order that is so rarely found. A kind of order that is achieved by being in some way selective but relying on chance and external factors to make the invisible appear.
I haven’t properly spoken in days. The airline pilot, and I found ourselves at loggerheads because of our differing views on the military. He was with two girls. One of them looked a bit like Alice Cooper and sold copiers in Califorinia, the other was out of work right now but her background is in theatre admin. A few drinks and I tried to persuade her not to buy a gun, she said how else would she protect her children, I didn’t have the answer. She asked me to go to her room to help her change.	We met by chance. The house is big and one that I have seen from the air. Her dad is away on location a lot of the time and her mother is warm and welcoming. The kids are great, I enjoyed playing soccer and trampoline with them outside. One evening she managed to sneak in some beer; we drank it while watching Hotel Rwanda. We talked about the movie and life and agreed on many things.
I was awoken by the unmistakeable sound of a headboard banging the adjoining wall. I ran to get a glass from the bathroom. A little later, downstairs for a coffee. She was about 5’5”, unassuming, with a prettyish round face. She wasn’t exactly subtle but went about her routine with the skill of a consummate professional. She approached slowly but surely giving the impression to watching security cameras that she was greeting an old friend. She immediately grasped both my hands and asked if I use them for work before telling me how nice they were. I returned the compliment and then answered with, ‘I’m just going for a walk.’ ‘What in a casino?’, she replied. ‘Sure why not’. ‘Won’t you come and sit with me for a while?’. ‘Look I don’t know what your game is (as if I didn’t) but I am just going for a walk. Again her steady, professional and slightly forceful hand took mine and she led me to a seat. My heart was pounding, full eye contact and more questions. She knew she was on to a loser.	I just spent time looking down from the tallest building. I feel like I am putting off my visit as I know I won’t be able to get inside anyway, not without a recommend. Even if I could somehow gain entry I know that it won’t help me resolve anything - it’s just something I have to do. She told me how the location was originally found and about the political divides. We looked down at the dwarfed temple, it wasn’t long ago that it was the only tall building in the city. I said that although the high rise of commerce is now swamping it, it’s certainly not spiritually overshadowed, she laughed. She spoke of an entire six hundred strong congregation that were so inspired by the word of a missionary that all but one of them left Britain and came here. I can understand that, but what about the one that was left behind? We took the elevator to the bottom and she offered to show me around the square. We were in time for the demonstration of hearing a pin drop and followed the spiral walkway to the statue, she showed me the way.
Around twenty minutes in and the alcohol begins to hit, but the usual sense of freedom created is replaced by boredom - a so many times before feeling, a not again feeling, a feeling that there’s maybe another way feeling, a well trod ground feeling, a dirty scuffed shoe feeling. I’m tired of dreaming.	I caught a glimpse of mormon underwear today. A girl was crossing the road, she was wearing a black knee length skirt and hurredly climbing into her boyfriend’s car. As she rushed to beat the oncoming traffic, the wind lifted her skirt a little, there was the smallest flash of white. Of course I was too late with my camera.
20 bucks to get in with two free drinks delivered at the same time - very clever, I felt obliged to stay until my drinks were finished. It’s exactly as you see in the movies, girls on the runway invite ‘gentlemen’ to stuff dollar bills into their g-strings or breasts or buttocks or wherever. I was approached by several women who wanted me to buy a private dance with them for 35 bucks. There was a reasonably nice one though in a gold bikini who said she was a fashion student. She gestured to her nipples which she said were hard and told me that she liked my jacket and that I am sexy. I said that it was obviously in her job description to say nice things like that, she said that she didn’t have to say anything to anybody. I didn’t believe her. The conversation turned quickly to money.	Later on she drove me to an island in the middle of the lake, we got lost on the way. Driving past buffalo and deer, we watched as the lake opened before us. We talked about when she came here as a girl and how it had changed before finding somewhere to park. The toilet smelled, she said she would rather wait. As we walked up for the view I noticed two women holding hands and kissing. I managed to catch one of them looking straight at me, I don’t think she saw me. We talked about kids and parenting and laughed at the plastic buffalo. We dipped feet in the lake to say that we had and then went home. A little later I tried to explain to her aunt and grandmother what I was doing here. She unsubtly let her beliefs be known, so my questions and answers were guarded and taken with good grace. I discovered her son is a missionary.
The foundations of this city are solid, but there’s a fault line that runs through it; a framework constructed of lies. Learned uprights protrude and spanning those are cross membered connections made between those experiences we touch and the people we form bonds with. What then if one of these supports is nothing more than an illusion - as I reach out to take hold and attach to that experience, it flickers and fades. I fall and catch hold of another support, slowly add nut, bolt and rivet to make good the connection. But just as organic material decays, a solid steel structure can rust, buckle and bend, and given the right tensions can topple completely. A foundation can crack or concrete cancer can take hold. Then the real decisions need to be made. Underpin or just allow to fade?	The foundations of this city are solid, but there’s a fault line that runs through it; a framework constructed of lies. Learned uprights protrude and spanning those are cross membered connections made between those experiences we touch and the people we form bonds with. What then if one of these supports is nothing more than an illusion - as I reach out to take hold and attach to that experience, it flickers and fades. I fall and catch hold of another support, slowly add nut, bolt and rivet to make good the connection. But just as organic material decays, a solid steel structure can rust, buckle and bend, and given the right tensions can topple completely. A foundation can crack or concrete cancer can take hold. Then the real decisions need to be made. Underpin or just allow to fade?