The Sound Before You Make It \ Jaki Middleton & David Lawrey (2009)

The Sound Before You Make It was an installation sited at FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology).

It is a sculptural flipbook in which miniature zombies are brought to life through the flashing of a strobe light.

Despite their animation, the zombies cannot roam free, but are cursed to a circle of repetition where the song never ends. The work utilises the technology of the zoetrope, a 19th Century optical toy, and re-contextualises it within the fantasy of Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video.

Image and video credit: Jaki Middleton & David Lawrey