Lights Go On. The song of the nightclub cloakroom attendant

Abstract

In a single screen 2 minute video projection with sound, rather than using conventional documentary approaches, which emphasize the importance of the words and presence of the subject in real-time on screen, Rooney ‘re-narrativizes’ the words of his subjects (in this instance a cloakroom attendant), by re-scripting them and having them spoken by others. In this he tries to create a space which enables the viewer to imaginatively engage with what that individual’s experience is like, while also making them aware of the limits of that imaginative reach.