A.R.T. Confidential, an inside look at a hidden world: Dennis in the Sky

The camera person somewhere on the streets of Princeton. Artist extraordinaire Dennis up in the studio seeing everything the camera sees, non-verbally directing the camera. The Super Tracker Darren McMannus communicates Dennis’s directives to the camera person.

“Point higher. Higher. “ Darren says into the mic. “Still higher.”

“I’m already pointing above the building the camera person protests..”

“Dennis wants you to point straight up. Is that right Dennis. He wants you to point straight up.”

“I don’t get it. There’s not even a cloud in the sky.”

“Just go with it.”

Dennis directs a few stills to be captured.

The following week when blown up prints of last weeks sessions operating the A.R.T. Flying Eye are laid out, everyone looking them over, Darren exclaims, “Hold everything. Wait just a second. Look at this. Right there. See it? That spec? It’s a plane.”

In the vast field of blue a teenie teenie tiny plane.

Someone calls out, “That is, so, cool!”

Everyone starts laughing including Dennis who I’m pretty sure did not see the plane when she shot his beautiful monochrome of pure blue sky.

But if he had not aimed straight up the camera would have never seen the plane.

Darren, moving some of the Princeton University art student’s drawing props out of the way he placed one of the props, a floppy sort of macrame chicken on the sill, where toppling gently over it falls backwards out the open second floor window.

This sets off peals of laughter.

In the A.R.T. studio we have a good time.