Supper at Last (Last Supper)

Description:

While in residency at Western Front for the month of December 1990, Dalibor Martinis developed a video installation that reimagined The Last Supper. 

A long, white-clothed table surrounded by thirteen chairs served as the projection surface for a three-channel projection showing the hands of thirteen actors at a dinner party, immersed in the gestures of a communal meal. The three projections were filmed by overhead cameras positioned above an identical table, their frames aligned precisely with the table’s edges. The soundscape shifted between lively conversation and sudden silence, transforming the dinner from a casual gathering to a formal ritual event. At moments, text appeared across the table’s surface.

Each chair was equipped with headphones through which visitors could listen to recorded voices of twentieth-century figures including Marcel Duchamp, Sigmund Freud, Frida Kahlo, Elvis Presley, Bertolt Brecht, Marilyn Monroe, Donald Duck, and others.

Video documentation is available upon request.