Explore the hidden choreography of everyday life in PASSING

Bristol-based producing organisation MAYK have premiered PASSING; a brand new short film from Jo Bannon, commissioned by The Space.

The film invites us to pay attention to the barely visible but highly choreographed ways in which we all perform, or pass, on stage and in everyday life.

PASSING centres around two performers as they work; Augusto, a sleight of hand magician, and Sindri, a visually impaired dancer. The film pays close attention to Augusto’s hands as they perform a series of magic tricks, as well as the complex choreographies of Sindri’s tactile navigation of space and objects.

Audiences are beckoned to witness this strange duet, a funny kind of twinning, a kinship between the two. Theirs is a labour of concealment and misdirection. Their skill is to conceal their own virtuosity, to appear at ease, to pass as if they’re not doing anything remarkable at all.

Sesnsory modes of seeing

Experimenting with sensory modes of seeing, including audio description, tactile cinematography, ASMR sound design and close up choreographies, PASSING attempts to disrupt the primacy of vision by proposing a more embodied, up close and personal mode of ‘seeing’. As always, Jo’s work is guided by her offbeat humour and her ongoing fascination with objects, visual perception and how strange the ordinary world really is.

PASSING is the first part of Bannon’s Blind Magic; a triptych of artworks exploring the performativity of visual impairment, that also includes installation (Sleight of Hand -premiering this spring in Bristol) and a live performance (The Dirty Work – premiering in 2025).

PASSING has been commissioned by The Space, made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England. Supported by Unlimited and Wellcome Collection.

Watch Augusto, a sleight of hand magician, and Sindri, a visually impaired dancer, as they unveil the magic of their hands, a virtuosity in their movements. It is a strange duet, a funny kind of twinning, a kinship. Their skill is to appear at ease, to pass as if they’re not doing anything remarkable at all.

There is also an audio described version of the film