'Their address was this: 'Schlachthof-funf.' Schlachthof meant slaughterhouse. Funf was good old five.’[1]
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five follows the ever-changing memories and narratives of Billy Pilgrim, an American prisoner of war. Reflecting the non-linear format of Vonnegut’s novel Tralfamadore uses a collection of images, gestures, colours and soundtrack taken from the text to create a series of narratives. Mimicking Pilgrim’s journey through changing narratives the audience is invited to make selections of their desired visual experience, allowing them control of their own cinematic narrative. The title of the work Tralfamadore is taken from the name of the alien planet in which Pilgrim is taken captive, deconstructing elements of Slaughterhouse-Five the video installation uses a combination of projections and sound to allow for an immersive experience, in which the audience is asked to interpret what they see.
The audience is presented with selections of imagery allowing a personal formation of narrative; each viewer’s understanding of the work and connection of events occurring on screen is individually constructed. The interactions between the couple on screen forces the viewer to reflect on the gestures and actions shown creating a visual dialogue. The audience are then able to interject their desired timings and changes to the work. The first of these selections is the choice of gestural movements performed by a stereotypical male female couple. These scenes are then repeated on different coloured backgrounds, for the audience to select their desired colour and couples interaction. These gestural actions were performed on green screen and the actors were asked to perform the roles in an expressionless manner, by doing so this allows other elements of the work to create emotion. The second selection performed by the audience is the selection of a still white image, projected on top of the couple. The still images used are taken from a close inspection of Slaughterhouse-Five in which imagery was taken from the text and manipulated to reflect Pilgrims changing memories and ghostly thoughts. As Pilgrim fluctuates the images too on screen appear unconnected and random. Finally the third selection is a desired soundtrack, using a selection of varied atmospheric music the audience are able to choose which music they wish to experience and therefore are able to finish the completion of their own narrative.
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