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Actually the campfire version was first shown in a somewhat different form in my show at the ICA in 1986. The original living room version refers to the real meaning of unheimlich, something repressed or unacknowledged in the home that emerges with uncanny, frightening effect. The campfire version relates to the way people like to tell stories around a campfire, frequently ghost stories – both situations can be frightening.

Your idea that we receive information from multiple points is foregrounded in the campfire version, but basically the effect on viewers is the same in both iterations. The work is set up to draw people in, to encourage empathy. You can accept the experience at face value or you can reject it, it’s up to you.

I want to say something that relates to your really horrible story about a campfire. I always like to tell this about Belshazzar’s Feast because it’s the way people sometimes misunderstand it completely. A man who always liked my work told me that he absolutely hated this piece. I asked him why and he said “you put in all those devils. Why are you making me watch all these devils?”

I said, “You are putting the devils there, not me”. But he never believed me.

Other people tell me, “I love the piece! I saw dancing dinosaurs!” They think I make animation and insert it under the fire imagery… I would like people to realise that the moving blips of light are triggering images. I want to give back that self-awareness to people. But if they insist on ignoring the fact that they’re making the images, then the work has failed.

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Actually the campfire version was first shown in a somewhat different form in my show at the ICA in 1986. The original living room version refers to the real meaning of unheimlich, something repressed or unacknowledged in the home that emerges with uncanny, frightening effect. The campfire version relates to the way people like to tell stories around a campfire, frequently ghost stories – both situations can be frightening.

Your idea that we receive information from multiple points is foregrounded in the campfire version, but basically the effect on viewers is the same in both iterations. The work is set up to draw people in, to encourage empathy. You can accept the experience at face value or you can reject it, it’s up to you.

I want to say something that relates to your really horrible story about a campfire. I always like to tell this about Belshazzar’s Feast because it’s the way people sometimes misunderstand it completely. A man who always liked my work told me that he absolutely hated this piece. I asked him why and he said “you put in all those devils. Why are you making me watch all these devils?”

I said, “You are putting the devils there, not me”. But he never believed me.

Other people tell me, “I love the piece! I saw dancing dinosaurs!” They think I make animation and insert it under the fire imagery… I would like people to realise that the moving blips of light are triggering images. I want to give back that self-awareness to people. But if they insist on ignoring the fact that they’re making the images, then the work has failed.