Part III: Sets

There were two sets: The Syringe Hall and the Operating Room (OR). These sets were influenced not only by the Quay Brothers, but also Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker. Both were built on bases of 1/2” MDF or plywood with 2×4 joists on the outer edges; each measured about one foot in width. They were laid on toolbox liner to keep them from slipping around.

The Syringe Hall was the first to be built. The syringe is an old Russian device, and the background is its instruction sheet. The backgrounds behind the windows were photos of mine that I color printed and spray-mounted to foam core. Small “fairy lights,” wire cords with LEDs the size of rice grains, were used behind the windows as a warm, flickering light source. The vegetation is wire dollhouse ivy and dead moss I scraped off a nearby overpass. The floor is just painted with texture paste tinted with acrylics, applied with a palette knife. The dirt and grime was model railroad ballast and clay dirt and dust from my yard.

The OR floor was plastic dollhouse tile, cut apart and detailed with ballast, dirt, flocking, and hot-glued paint brush bristles. A few washes of paint added stains and grime. The walls were entirely inkjet photos of warehouse interiors that I shot many years ago, detailed with truss work that I painted to match. The metal table was a dollhouse supply purchase, and the Doctor’s box was a cufflink box. More dead moss lines the far wall to obscure the seam of the wall and the floor. The side wall was removable, and you see the same wall flipped and used on the opposite side in the shot with the Patient’s feet right near the camera.