Every Body is Everywhere and Nowhere, Elizabeth Leister’s multi-channel video installation plus mirrors at PAFA’s Morris Gallery, is probably best viewed during the live feeds from her California studio, when she’s drawing outlines of her body. But getting there at the right time is a little dicey. The front desk and the PR department both suggested that lunch time was their best guess of when to catch the artist at work. But I’d call, 215-972-7600 before I go. Plus you’ll need some good luck, since she’s not on for all that long each day.
Without the live feed, my favorite part of all this was the kaleidoscopic tall mirrors that reflected in multiples not just all the video screens but myself as well, placing me in a sort of confusing space in which I could view what was projected in front, on the sides and in back all at once. The space was transformed and took on a relationship to my body and my perception that was rather interesting, and I was surrounded by multiple mirrored versions of a real body as well as mirrored versions of videos of people as well as mirrored versions of videos of drawings. I was the only thing that was real, and of course I couldn’t quite see myself whole, except in a mirrored reproduction.
