Still from 'Iddu'
Has anyone ever filmed bees drinking water? Not that I know of. I didn't know they drank it even, but it appears that they do. A haunting slow-motion scene of three Italian bees hovering around a dripping rusty shower head then quietly reaching in to drink, ends James P Graham's astonishing new 360° panoramic film 'Iddu'.
'Iddu' took four years to make, lasts for 15 minutes and was realised over every dawn and dusk during five weeks on the island of Stromboli - one of the Aeolian Islands off the coast in southern Italy, about 110 miles from Naples.
What makes the film truly individual is that it is to be shown on twelve x 2-metre high screens that will form an unbroken dodecahedral 'room'. (The dodecahedron actually appears to be a circle.) The film has twelve video and twelve audio channels. I watched a smaller version last week, at James' Vauxhall studio. Perched on a swirly high-chair in the middle of 12 screens, I found the film awesome, in the original sense of the word.
Stromboli has the world's only constantly exploding volcano and is locally referred to as Iddu, meaning 'him' in Strombolian dialect. It is three miles in diameter and 2,900 feet above sea level, rising 10,000 feet above the floor of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It's in a constant state of flux; because of the intense polarisation of the elements, some kind of heavy land, lava, cloud or sea activity can be observed at any one time. Looking at a film of this secluded, conical island makes you want to sell up and move there, despite the fact it's a bit dangerous. Half of its 300 inhabitants, who live in the village of Ginostra, only acquired electricity and running water last year.
Its volcano venomously spits out luminescent rocks then goes eerily still again. This arresting show has been taking place at least three times every hour, for the last 2,500 years and every year lives are claimed from those who approach it. In September 2002 Graham ascended Stromboli with his guide spending the night at the top just next to the volcano's craters. What he saw created a momentary experience of what he describes as an 'illumination'. Research into this metaphysical experience led him to discover the notion of 'scientia sacra' or sacred science. Its pure meaning is described by the contemporary Iranian philosopher Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr in his book 'Knowledge and the Sacred': "... sacred knowledge lies at the heart of every revelation which is at the centre of that circle encompassing and defining tradition... the source of this knowledge is intellectual intuition which involves the illumination of the heart and the mind of man."
Through the use of Super 8 film (260 rolls of it), Graham's footage, filmed in true 360°, lets you look into a unique and scary landscape from the very centre. It has a decidedly filmic feel; the cameras used were collected on Ebay over a twelve-month period, then serviced and specially adapted in Germany. Two rigs were designed, one circular, using twelve Beaulieu cameras capable of filming in 360°, and one with six Leicina cameras for 180° panoramas. This latter rig allowed for the possibility of varying focal lengths, so that two of these shots could be placed opposite each other to make 360°.
It's guided by the sound from the landscape itself, with an overlay of sound by sexogenarian Japanese sound-artist, musician and self-proclaimed shaman, Akio Suzuki. Akio built an 'Analapos' - two cans connected by a string - an instrument that captured the sound of the wind at specific locations on the island. This Aeolian Harp proved to be the most elusive sound to create of his time on the island; he only managed to do it once before, in 1971, in Japan.
What Graham came back with is quite breathtaking footage, put together in such a painterly way, that the film is at times, heartbreaking. It is a film about the entire nature of, on and around the island, the crater. He worked with the local volcanologists, capturing images of explosive activity with ultra-high speed cameras triggered remotely by a seismometer. "Success was largely due to the great spirit and flexibility of the four man film crew," he told me. "Fortunately the weather was exceptionally mild and the volcanic activity was very favourable. It was on our last nocturnal visit that the volcano accorded us an intimate audience. We managed to film a 50-second 'double' explosion, a rocket flame, from 150 metres away - the most beautiful I have ever seen. The first part was like an exploding star - this was big enough - but when it died down a second explosion started straight away. 'Iddu' suddenly unfurled himself from a cloud a black ash looming up and peaking in an incandescent climax before burying himself back inside a white hot conduit. I swear I saw the whites of his eyes."
James Putnam, curator of, amongst other things, the recent Freud Museum shows, is also helping Graham by introducing the project to various exhibition venues in Britain and abroad and will get involved in the actual installation as well as writing critical texts for the publication. "I was moved by James Graham's passionate quest - that rare spark of wonderment, which, when coupled with obsession, can transform into inspiration," he said (click here to read Your Gallery's recent interview with James Putnam).
There has already been a commitment from a number of venues to exhibit the film: the new LTB Foundation in West London is very keen to show 'Iddu' (date to be confirmed); MUDAM Luxembourg has confirmed it will be showing the film from 6 October, and it will also be shown at the Benaki Museum Athens from January to March 2008.
James P Graham began his film career in 1994, making a series of commercials for cinema and television, before leaving to work independently as an experimental filmmaker. In 1997, he was commissioned by Channel 4 to make a series of short films. The past five years has been spent has working exclusively in the 360-degree film format.
Laura K Jones
Still from 'Iddu'
James P Graham twelve Beaulieu cameras in order to film in 360°
Akio Suzuki
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