The Registry

View The Registry for free at S1 Artspace and on our Online Exhibitions Platform.

The Registry is a new moving image installation by Los Angeles-based artist and independent filmmaker Alex Tyson, commissioned by Sheffield DocFest. An evolution from his past works of formally innovative documentary film, The Registry is the artist’s first narrative work, an elliptical, layered psychological horror that brings together multiple storylines which intersect in complex ways. Embedded within these narrative threads are topics salient to the documentary/non-fiction field: the afterlives of images of war and their fictional representation; the potential tokenisation of subjects, stories, and makers by the industry; and the ethical dilemmas arising from the commercialisation of the stock image/footage market. These topics are related subtly through Tyson’s own cinematography, editing, and sound design – always unconventional and off-kilter – and through the juxtaposition of the film’s looped projection with an additional projection of documentary footage referenced in the film’s narrative.