From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
Lacunae in the Parallel Wires
This article describes a proposed but unproduced work. For the parallel wires motif in the novel, see Chapter 1.
Lacunae in the Parallel Wires is a proposed but never-produced film that would document the space *between* the two parallel wires in Chapter 1 — the gap through which Katita wheels the unconscious Leif across the rooftop of Bolton Street car park at night. The film exists only in treatment notes and festival rejection letters.
According to archival correspondence [1], the film would consist of a single fixed camera position at the midpoint between the wires, recording:
- The air itself — unobstructed
- Ambient rooftop sound at night (wind, distant traffic, silence)
- No image of the wires
- No image of Katita or Leif
- Darkness with minimal horizon reference
The work was proposed to Viennale, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and Images Festival (Toronto). No footage was ever shot. No version was screened. The production stills that circulate in fandom — two grainy photographs labeled "Wires and Atmosphere (study)" — may depict the location scouting or may be unrelated rooftop photographs.
Fandom debate centres on whether the non-existence is the work's content: a film about the un-imageable space, completed most perfectly by remaining unproduced. A 2023 talk-page discussion questions whether Lacunae should be listed among lost media or conceptual art; the distinction collapsed when no media existed to lose [2].
See also
References
- ↑ Wexner Center for the Arts, circulation memo 2017
- ↑ Talk page, 2023