about
WORKS
contact
imperson [left the building]
11-16/06/2025, HIDDEN DOOR FESTIVAL, EDINBURGH, UNITED KINGDOM
"Well the image is one thing and the human being is another." - Elvis Presley
imperson (left the building) is a 15-track album and performance project presented as a 15-monitor pyramid adorned with an animatronic bust of Elvis Presley. It uses the abstraction of the most impersonated person on the planet through the lens of the Egyptian Memphite afterlife system of iconization to explore supernormal stimulus, the veneration of problematic men, toxic masculinity, romantic delusions, cultural appropriation and primordial loneliness. Continued existence in the afterlife in Ancient Egypt was completely tied to the repeated creation and veneration of images of the likeness of the deceased person in the world of the living: a proto-celebrity culture.
The project was recorded over several years across multiple locations (without permission) including the Memphis Necropolis, Porthcawl Elvis Festival, Glasgow Prestwick Airport, the British Museum and the Direct From Graceland Exhibition with additional audio recorded in the Red Pyramid. Following interviews with multiple Elvis impersonators and tribute artists as part of the Good on Paper project.
Created by Sweætshops®
Supported by the Creative Scotland Open Project Fund
1. someone as everything 2. blues #0000FF 3. bbabyss 4. #1034A6 moon 5. trainwreck 6. let's play atomic families 7. *undo god/peace in valleys 8. memphis (coming forth by) 9. nihil drive 10. fall in fallout of love 11. something for everyone 12. *h 13. ba abyss 14. blues #0033BB 15. well
full video in pyramid setup
https://youtu.be/PYoPtZ04N5k
CREDITS
Camera: Oliver Benton
Audio production: Edwin McLachlan
Starring: Elvis Aaron Presley
Music/translation: Merik Tiz
Towels and water: Martin Hughes
Backing vocals: Sei de Castro
Location manager: Joanne, Al Haiz Oasis
Fixer: Mohammed, Hieroglyphs Hotel
Greenscreen: SURGE TechBox
Hair: Bev Bev, Guillotine Home Salon
Costume: Jim McEntee
Costume alterations: Chao-ying Rao
Catering: Al Haiz Oasis
Props: Make Do and Grow CIC, Tynedale Hospice
Additional props: Steve, x_wonka_x, Tara McGilvray-Guard
Thank you, thank you very much to:
Big Mama Thornton, Thomas A. Dorsey, the Bedouin communities of the white and black desert , the Code of the Ancients project, DeepFaceLab, Ganesh, Laura Counsella Smith, Judah Mildu, Karl Taylor, //BUZZCUT//, Nusch, Pharaoh Sneferu, Ptah, Connor MacDonald, Juulia Kala, Elizabeth Fraser, Euan Fraser, Ann Fraser, Cicely Jex, Gordon Douglas, Richard Carroll, Nina Halton, Razvan Kim, Dr Justin Sledge, scarab, all the djinn, all of our ex-lovers for the heartbreak and everyone who bribed the Egyptian military police on our behalf.
Research: The Study of Instinct (Niko Tinbergen), Ancient Egyptian Literature (Miriam Lichtheim), Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt (Emily Teeter), The Egyptian Book of The Dead, Last Train to Memphis/Careless Heart (Peter Guralnick), Elvis People (Ted Harrison), Elvis Religion (Gregory L. Reece), Elvis After Life (Raymond A. Moody Jr), An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary (E. A. Wallis Budge), The Book of Thoth (Aleister Crowley), Book 4 (Crowley), The Masks of God (Joseph Campbell), Alchemy and Psychoanalysis (Herbert Silberer), The Leyden Papyrus (F. Ll. Griffith, Herbert Thompson), The Burger & The King (BBC Arena)
Dedicated in loving memory to Frank James Fraser and Ruaridh Crosher