Bellevue

Based upon Malcolm Lowry’s short story ‘Lunar Caustic’, whose flights of fancy emanate from inside the walls of a 1930’s New York psychiatric hospital, Rooney’s video takes place against the idealised backdrop of a picture-perfect English country house, and depicts an advertising agency focus group discussing the use of Lowry’s writing in a campaign. Colliding contemporary marketing jargon with the literary innovations of mid-20th century modernism, ‘Bellevue’ subjects ‘reality’ to various levels of scrutiny; highlighting the potential for imaginative projection (and creative confusion) engendered by the written word.Co-commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella with the Bluecoat, in association with Harewood House, Leeds and Spacex, Exeter.