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The Girl with X-ray Eyes

Thursday 8 May, 6 - 8pm, Warwick Arts Centre Cinema

film stillNatasha Demkina is known internationally as The Girl with X-ray Eyes. A Russian medical student, she is purported to have the ability to look directly inside bodies. Using a form of supplementary vision or second sight, she produces detailed medical diagnoses. Last summer, artist Phillip Warnell went to Moscow and offered up his own body as the subject for Natasha’s scrutiny before a series of witnesses. The resulting 23 minute artist’s film reveals his extraordinary encounter with The Girl with X-ray Eyes.

Introducing ideas on the negotiated use of filmic space, the project is concerned with the direct act of looking; how looking and seeing can indeed become a veritable act. Charting the process through which Natasha scans the body, producing a verbal report on her findings, the film also questions the role and status of the artist, drawing attention to ulterior motives and furtive, discreet forms of communication.

The film will be premiered at Warwick Arts Centre on Thursday 8 May, accompanied by a specially commissioned soundtrack from Russian composer Vladimir Nikolaev featuring a theremin, the Russian non-contact instrument with a history intrinsically linked to that of espionage and immaterial phenomena.

At the event, Steven Connor (Birkbeck) will also speak on the popular fantasy of acquiring x-ray vision, and the Werner Herzog short documentary 'Bells from the Deep' will be screened. Afterwards there will be a reception and 'The Girl with X-ray Eyes' book launch in the Mead Gallery. (This event has been programmed in association with 'Introspection-Extramission,' new work by Phillip Warnell, an exhibition at the Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery, 18 April - 15 June.)

More information can be found at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/chm/activities/other/liveart/xray Tickets for this event are available at the Warwick Arts Centre box office, priced £7.50, £5 for concessions and £2.50 for students.