Director Atom Egoyan Explores the Crossroads of Memory, Technology, and the Self in ‘Steenbeckett’ Installation

By Alison Nastasi

Dec. 18, 2016

Celebrated Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan brings an immersive film and literature-inspired installation to MacKenzie Art Gallery in Saskatchewan. Atom Egoyan: Steenbeckett features a continuously moving web of 35mm film reels, driven by a Steenbeck editing table (see how it operates). The 2,000-foot loop of film contains the last reel of Egoyan’s 2000 Samuel Beckett’s adaptation, Krapp’s Last Tape (part of the Dublin Beckett on Film project). The director’s film stars John Hurt as the anguished old man who listens to his younger self on tape, reflecting on painful memories. A digitally remastered version of the film plays within the installation. The contrasting technologies become an exposition on Egoyan’s fascination with the personal/impersonal divide of technology and the way it skews our identities and relationships — subjects explored in films like Next of Kin, Speaking Parts, and Adoration. See a preview of Atom Egoyan: Steenbeckett, which runs through January 2, in our gallery. Pick up a copy of the companion publication over here.

Atom Egoyan, Steenbeckett. MacKenzie Art Gallery, 2016. Photo: Don Hall, courtesy of the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

Installation of Atom Egoyan, Steenbeckett at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, 2016. Photo: Don Hall.

Atom Egoyan, Steenbeckett. MacKenzie Art Gallery, 2016. Photo: Don Hall, courtesy of the MacKenzie Art Gallery.