CCCA Canadian Art Database

Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 70876

Measurements: 7.2 m diameter x 2.4 m height (when inflated)

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Work by Nina Levitt

Conspiracy of Silence

Conspiracy of Silence

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15834

Description: 4 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1987

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Conspiracy of Silence

Conspiracy of Silence

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15831

Description: 1 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1987

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Conspiracy of Silence

Conspiracy of Silence

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15835

Description: 5 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1987

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Conspiracy of Silence

Conspiracy of Silence

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15833

Description: 3 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1987

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Conspiracy of Silence

Conspiracy of Silence

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15832

Description: 2 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1987

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Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15841

Description: 5 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1990

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Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15837

Description: 1 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1990

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Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15838

Description: 2 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1990

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Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15836

Description: Series of 5.

Measurements: each: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1990

Materials:

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Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15839

Description: 3 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1990

Materials:

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Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Think Nothing of It (Dorothy Arzner & Joan Crawford)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15840

Description: 4 of a series of 5.

Measurements: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1990

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Embrace

Embrace

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15845

Description: 3 of a series of 4.

Measurements: 50.8 x 40.64 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991

Materials:

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Embrace

Embrace

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15842

Description: Series of 4.

Measurements: each: 50.8 x 40.64 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991

Materials:

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Embrace

Embrace

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15846

Description: 4 of a series of 4.

Measurements: 50.8 x 40.64 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991

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Embrace

Embrace

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15844

Description: 2 of a series of 4.

Measurements: 50.8 x 40.64 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991

Materials:

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Embrace

Embrace

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15843

Description: 1 of a series of 4.

Measurements: 50.8 x 40.64 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991

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Submerged (for Alice Austen)

Submerged (for Alice Austen)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15847

Description:

Measurements: 3: 76.2 x 60.96 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991-1992

Materials:

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Calamity

Calamity

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15852

Description:

Measurements: 5.08 framed panels, each: 104.14 x 63.5 cm; 264.16 x 161.29 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991-1992

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Submerged (for Alice Austen), detail 2 of 4

Submerged (for Alice Austen), detail 2 of 4

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15849

Description:

Measurements: 76.2 x 60.96 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991-1992

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Submerged (for Alice Austen), detail 4 of 4

Submerged (for Alice Austen), detail 4 of 4

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15851

Description:

Measurements: 76.2 x 60.96 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991-1992

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Submerged (for Alice Austen), detail 1 of 4

Submerged (for Alice Austen), detail 1 of 4

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15848

Description:

Measurements: 76.2 x 60.96 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991-1992

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Submerged (for Alice Austen), detail 3 of 4

Submerged (for Alice Austen), detail 3 of 4

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15850

Description:

Measurements: 76.2 x 101.6 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1991-1992

Materials:

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Monde interdit, detail 2 of 6

Monde interdit, detail 2 of 6

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15860

Description:

Measurements: colour photograph: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Untitled ( from the Notman Archives), detail 2 of 4

Untitled ( from the Notman Archives), detail 2 of 4

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15855

Description:

Measurements: each: 45.72 x 45.72 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Monde interdit, installation view

Monde interdit, installation view

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15858

Description:

Measurements: 13 framed b&w silver prints

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Untitled ( from the Notman Archives), detail 4 of 4

Untitled ( from the Notman Archives), detail 4 of 4

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15857

Description:

Measurements: each: 45.72 x 45.72 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

Materials:

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Monde interdit, detail 5 of 6

Monde interdit, detail 5 of 6

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15863

Description:

Measurements: colour photograph: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Untitled ( from the Notman Archives), detail 1 of 4

Untitled ( from the Notman Archives), detail 1 of 4

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15854

Description:

Measurements: each: 45.72 x 45.72 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

Materials:

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Monde interdit, detail 1 of 6

Monde interdit, detail 1 of 6

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15859

Description:

Measurements: colour photograph: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Monde interdit, detail 6 of 6

Monde interdit, detail 6 of 6

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15864

Description:

Measurements: colour photograph: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Untitled ( from the Notman Archives), detail 3 of 4

Untitled ( from the Notman Archives), detail 3 of 4

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15856

Description:

Measurements: each: 45.72 x 45.72 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Monde interdit, detail 4 of 6

Monde interdit, detail 4 of 6

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15862

Description:

Measurements: colour photograph: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Untitled ( from the Notman Archives)

Untitled ( from the Notman Archives)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15853

Description:

Measurements: each: 45.72 x 45.72 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

Materials:

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Monde interdit, detail 3 of 6

Monde interdit, detail 3 of 6

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15861

Description:

Measurements: colour photograph: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1992

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Harbour, detail of Part I, monitor

Harbour, detail of Part I, monitor

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15866

Description: A two-part video installation. No Audio.
Part I: Black & white slow motion video sequence played on a monitor depicts the interaction between two young women who are looking at a photograph of a man posing at the beach. Taken from Maëdchen in Uniform, 1931 (Director: Leontine Sagan) a German film about the doomed lesbian love affair between a young schoolgirl and her teacher.

Measurements:

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Date Made: 1997

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Harbour, detail of Part II, film still

Harbour, detail of Part II, film still

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15868

Description: A two-part video installation. No Audio.
Part II: A looped video image projected onto a black & white photograph suspended from the ceiling, about 5 feet away from a wall. The video consistes of a staged colour sequence of my mouth saying the word "harbour", montaged with a clip from Maëdchen. The video image projected onto the suspended photograph spills over onto the back wall of the gallery, creating a spatial rupture in the visual field. An essential aspect of Part II is that the viewer exaggerates or bridges the ruptured image by moving at different angles to the projection.

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Date Made: 1997

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Harbour, Part II, detail

Harbour, Part II, detail

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15867

Description: A two-part video installation. No Audio.
Part II: A looped video image projected onto a black & white photograph suspended from the ceiling, about 5 feet away from a wall. The video consistes of a staged colour sequence of my mouth saying the word "harbour", montaged with a clip from Maëdchen. The video image projected onto the suspended photograph spills over onto the back wall of the gallery, creating a spatial rupture in the visual field. An essential aspect of Part II is that the viewer exaggerates or bridges the ruptured image by moving at different angles to the projection.

Measurements: video projection: approx. 4' x 5'

Collection:

Date Made: 1997

Materials:

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Harbour, installation view

Harbour, installation view

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15865

Description: Right - Part I; left - Part II.
A two-part video installation. No Audio.
Part I: Black & white slow motion video sequence played on a monitor depicts the interaction between two young women who are looking at a photograph of a man posing at the beach. Taken form Maëdchen in Uniform, 1931 (Director: Leontine Sagan) a German film about the doomed lesbian love affair between a young schoolgirl and her teacher.
Part II: A looped video image projected onto a black & white photograph suspended from the ceiling, about 5 feet away from a wall. The video consistes of a staged colour sequence of my mouth saying the word "harbour", montaged with a clip from Maëdchen. The video image projected onto the suspended photograph spills over onto the back wall of the gallery, creating a spatial rupture in the visual field. An essential aspect of Part II is that the viewer exaggerates or bridges the ruptured image by moving at different angles to the projection.

Measurements: photograph: 35.56 x 27.94 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1997

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Gravity, detail

Gravity, detail

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15872

Description: Video projection of a sequence of women divers spinning, in slow motion, over a sparkling blue swiming pool. Projected onto white vinyl on the floor. Source: Television coverage of 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Women's Diving Competition.

Measurements: video projection: 55.88 x 66.04 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1997-1998

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Gravity, detail

Gravity, detail

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15870

Description: Dancers at The Gateways lesbian bar, London. Video loop comprised of two slow motion sequences: a long shot of a crowd of women dancing; cut to a close-up of a young couple dancing cheek to cheek. Source: The Killing of Sister George, 1974, Director: Robert Aldrich.

Measurements: video wall projection: 0.2784 x 0.348 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1997-1998

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Gravity, detail

Gravity, detail

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15874

Description: Looped video projection of the First Woman in Space, Valentina Terechkova, waving and smiling from her Russian space capsule. Projected onto an opaque Plexiglas screen suspended from the ceiling. Viewers can watch the flickering black & white image from both sides. Source: Dateline: 1961/62 Into Orbit, produced by ABC News, New Atlantic Productions, 1982.

Measurements: plexiglass: 33.02 x 22.86 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1997-1998

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Gravity, installation view of “Spin”

Gravity, installation view of “Spin”

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15871

Description: Video projection of a sequence of women divers spinning, in slow motion, over a sparkling blue swiming pool. Projected onto white vinyl on the floor. Source: Television coverage of 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Women's Diving Competition.

Measurements: video projection: 55.88 x 66.04 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1997-1998

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Gravity, installation view of “Wave”

Gravity, installation view of “Wave”

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15873

Description: Looped video projection of the First Woman in Space, Valentina Terechkova, waving and smiling from her Russian space capsule. Projected onto an opaque Plexiglas screen suspended from the ceiling. Viewers can watch the flickering black & white image from both sides. Source: Dateline: 1961/62 Into Orbit, produced by ABC News, New Atlantic Productions, 1982.

Measurements: plexiglass: 33.02 x 22.86 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 1997-1998

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Gravity, installation view of “Nostalgia”

Gravity, installation view of “Nostalgia”

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15869

Description: Dancers at The Gateways lesbian bar, London. Video loop comprised of two slow motion sequences: a long shot of a crowd of women dancing; cut to a close-up of a young couple dancing cheek to cheek. Source: The Killing of Sister George, 1974, Director: Robert Aldrich.

Measurements: video wall projection: 0.2784 x 0.348 m

Collection:

Date Made: 1997-1998

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Duet video still

Duet video still

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15875

Description: A large video image of a figure unbuttoning and buttoning a white shirt is projected into the corner of a gallery space. With headphones, viewers can hear six brief accounts of passing women told by two overlapping voices.

Measurements: projection, approx.: 0.2088 x 0.2784 m; 0.06264 x 0.08352 m

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Date Made: 1997-1999

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Duet

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 27313

Description: 1997-1999 [installation documentation, length: 2min 20sec.]

Technical description
A large video image of a figure intermittently unbuttoning and buttoning a white shirt is projected into the corner of a gallery. Fifteen feet away are two unhoused audio speakers playing a sound track of overlapping voices telling brief accounts of passing women. Although there is repetition both in the video image and the audio track, there are subtle changes that occur in the piece as the audio shifts in relation to the image.

[Video Projection] Continuous video loop projected into a corner of a gallery approx. 8' x 6' / LCD Video Projector, VHS deck
[Audio] Continuous audio loop / 6 unhoused full-range speakers or headphones, CD playback deck

Artist's statement
This is a memorial piece about women who, for various social and/or economic reasons, lived their lives disguised as men. Those who assume the clothing, gestures, environments and privileges of men are known as 'passing' women. Although many passing women succeed in living and dying with their biological sex undetected, the stories recounted in Duet are of women whose passing was discovered upon death.

Although passing is often described as a choice women made in order to disguise their gender and/or their sexual preference - a survival strategy rooted in pre-gay liberation times - the women honored in Duet lived from the turn-of-the-century to the mid 1990's. While some artists have recently been interested in celebrating drag as a performative form of queer identity, I am interested in revealing the personal and physical 'costs' of this identity for women and, in particular, lesbians.

This and other video installations by Nina Levitt are distributed by V/Tape, Toronto.

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Date Made: 1997-1999

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Lexicon, detail of video

Lexicon, detail of video

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15918

Description: Detail of video (button and rotating text).

Measurements:

Collection:

Date Made: 2000

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Lexicon, installation view 2 (detail)

Lexicon, installation view 2 (detail)

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15916

Description: Reference Section, Robarts Library, University of Toronto, April 2000.

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Date Made: 2000

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Lexicon, detail of video

Lexicon, detail of video

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15917

Description: Detail of video showing someone leafing through Geschlechtskunde (Sexual Knowledge) by Magnus Hirschfield, 1926.

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Date Made: 2000

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Lexicon, installation view 1

Lexicon, installation view 1

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 15915

Description: Reference Section, Robarts Library, University of Toronto, April 2000.

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Date Made: 2000

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Little Breeze

Artist: Nina Levitt

Work ID: 42688

Description: 2002 [installation documentation, length 3min. 16sec.]
[In collaboration with Nicholas Stedman]

A co-production with The Banff Centre, Banff Alberta

An examination of the ephemeral presence of women spies during World War II. This complex interactive project was shaped from stories of British women's resistance and assumed identities. Viewers become active participants in the gathering of (audio) information and the 'decoding' of video images. Through an intimate and tactile relationship with the technology, the viewer's experience and imagination ultimately shaped the layers of imagery, language and metaphor in Little Breeze.

Technical Description Components:

  • 8 vintage suitcases embedded with electronics
  • A large video projection screen connected to an Apple G4 computer
  • SoftVNS and MAX software
  • Specially designed walls to create an intimate viewing space, house the screen and hide the projector and computer


  • Upon entering the gallery, visitors see a large video projection of a sequence of portraits of women made of ASCII (ask-ee) code. Eight suitcases of various sizes and colours are huddled nearby. Signs encourage visitors to pick up the suitcases. Suitcases were left in the gallery wherever visitors were finished using them.

    How it works:
    Each suitcase is equipped with a microcontroller (Basic Stamp 2) that monitors and responds to a user's interaction:
  • When a suitcase is picked up, a tripped switch tells the microcontroller to play back a short sound clip stored on a memory chip (ISD chipcorder), heard through a small speaker.
  • Audio clips include the song Louise by Maurice Chevalier, short biographies of women spys, and sound effects from a feature film based on British agent, Violette Szabo (called Carve Her Name with Pride, 1954).
  • When a suitcase is opened, another switch is tripped. The microcontroller reports this event by wireless RF transmission to a central computer hidden in the gallery. The computer then selects the video sequence that corresponds to the audio loop to play and it emerges from, and displaces the field of ASCII code. The computer also sends the audio from the suitcase to a speaker in the wall.
  • Closing the suitcases causes SoftVNS to displace and morph the video clip back into the ASCII portraits. The sound returns to the suitcase, which continues to play until the case is put down.
  • If more than one suitcase is open at any time, the computer jogs back and forth between video clips causing the narrative to become disjointed and confused.


  • This and other video installations by Nina Levitt are distributed by V/Tape, Toronto.

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    Date Made: 2002

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    Service Records HS 9/1437 and WO 208/3401

    Service Records HS 9/1437 and WO 208/3401

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70884

    Description: Source: reproduced with permission from The National Archives of the UK

    Measurements: 4.4196 cm x 0.7690104 m (20 cm x 2.563368 m)

    Collection:

    Date Made: 2008

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    view of Parachute (for Hannah Senesh) and Service Records

    view of Parachute (for Hannah Senesh) and Service Records

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70881

    Description:

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins), suitcase detail

    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins), suitcase detail

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70873

    Description: Sources: audio interviews with Vera Atkins from the Imperial War Museum, London. Selected video sequences from Now It Can Be Told, RAF Film Production, 1946.

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70880

    Description:

    Measurements: 7.2 m diameter x 2.4 m height (when inflated)

    Collection:

    Date Made: 2008

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    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70876

    Description:

    Measurements: 7.2 m diameter x 2.4 m height (when inflated)

    Collection:

    Date Made: 2008

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    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70877

    Description:

    Measurements: 7.2 m diameter x 2.4 m height (when inflated)

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70878

    Description:

    Measurements: 7.2 m diameter x 2.4 m height (when inflated)

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Telegrams of Departure

    Telegrams of Departure

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70882

    Description: Source: diary excerpts from Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary. (New York: Schocken Books, 1966).

    Measurements: 317.5 x 241.3 cm (50 x 96.52 cm) projection

    Collection:

    Date Made: 2008

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    Telegrams of Departure, video still

    Telegrams of Departure, video still

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70883

    Description:

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Parachute (for Hannah Senesh)

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70879

    Description:

    Measurements: 7.2 m diameter x 2.4 m height (when inflated)

    Collection:

    Date Made: 2008

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    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins), suitcase detail

    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins), suitcase detail

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70872

    Description: Sources: audio interviews with Vera Atkins from the Imperial War Museum, London. Selected video sequences from Now It Can Be Told, RAF Film Production, 1946.

    Measurements:

    Collection:

    Date Made: 2008

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    Service Records HS 9/1437 and WO 208/3401

    Service Records HS 9/1437 and WO 208/3401

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70886

    Description: Source: reproduced with permission from The National Archives of the UK

    Measurements: 4.4196 cm x 0.7690104 m (20 cm x 2.563368 m)

    Collection:

    Date Made: 2008

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    Service Records HS 9/1437 and WO 208/3401

    Service Records HS 9/1437 and WO 208/3401

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70885

    Description: Source: reproduced with permission from The National Archives of the UK

    Measurements: 4.4196 cm x 0.7690104 m (20 cm x 2.563368 m)

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins), view inside hut

    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins), view inside hut

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70874

    Description: Sources: audio interviews with Vera Atkins from the Imperial War Museum, London. Selected video sequences from Now It Can Be Told, RAF Film Production, 1946.

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Full Moon

    Full Moon

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70875

    Description:

    Measurements: 266.7 x 196.85 cm (42 x 78.74 cm) projection

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins)

    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins)

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70870

    Description: Sources: audio interviews with Vera Atkins from the Imperial War Museum, London. Selected video sequences from Now It Can Be Told, RAF Film Production, 1946.

    Measurements: 5.1 x 3 x 2.4 m

    Collection:

    Date Made: 2008

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    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins)

    Quonset Hut (for Vera Atkins)

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 70871

    Description: Sources: audio interviews with Vera Atkins from the Imperial War Museum, London. Selected video sequences from Now It Can Be Told, RAF Film Production, 1946.

    Measurements: 5.1 x 3 x 2.4 m

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    Date Made: 2008

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    Gravity

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 49325

    Description: 1997-1999 [installation documentation, length 3min. 10 sec.]

    A meditation on transgression, subjectivity, risk and loss comprised of five elements (3 video projections and 2 audio systems) installed as distinct stations in a darkened room.

    Sonar
    The sound of a sonar echo permeates the space emitted from a gray metal public address speaker mounted near the ceiling.

    Source: digitally created for Gravity.
    ceiling mounted PA speaker, amplifier, CD player

    Nostalgia
    Dancers at The Gateways lesbian bar, London. Video loop comprised of two slow motion sequences: a long shot of a crowd of women dancing; cuts to a close-up of a young couple dancing cheek to cheek.
    Source: The Killing of Sister George, 1974, Director: Robert Aldrich.
    10' x 8' video wall-projection, LCD video projector, VCR

    Spin
    Video projection of a sequence of women divers spinning, in slow motion, over a sparkling blue swimming pool. Projected onto a white surface on the floor.

    Source: Television coverage of 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Women's Diving Competition.
    22' x 26' image, mini video projector, tripod, VCR, vinyl sheet

    Wave
    Video projection loop of 'the First Woman in Space', Valentina Terechkova, waving and smiling for the camera from her Russian space capsule. Projected onto an opaque Plexiglas screen suspended from the ceiling. Viewers can watch the flickering black & white image from both sides.

    Source: Dateline: 1961/62 Into Orbit, produced by ABC News, New Atlantic Productions, 1982.
    mini video projector, tripod, VCR, 9' x 13' Plexiglas suspended from ceiling

    Aria
    Two unhoused audio speakers form a listening station on the wall. The aria Ebben n'andro lontana plays every 2 minutes at low volume (duration = 4:49).

    Source: Golden Opera, Decca Record Co., London, 1993, (from the opera La Wally by Alfredo Catalani, sung by Renata Tebaldi).
    2, 8' audio speakers, amplifier, CD player

    Spatial variations:
    This work has been installed in various gallery spaces in both group and solo exhibitions:

  • 30' x 30' [Gallery 400, Chicago]
  • 20' x 50' [Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa]
  • 50' x 45' [Gallery TPW, Toronto]
  • 25' x 18' [Vancouver Art Gallery]


  • This and other video installations by Nina Levitt are distributed by V/Tape, Toronto.

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    Lexicon

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 47754

    Description:

    Measurements: 1 min 53s

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    Harbour

    Artist: Nina Levitt

    Work ID: 49326

    Description: 1996 [installation documentation, length 2min. 22sec.] [A two-part video installation which explores oppositional relations pertaining to lesbian identity.]

    Part I consists of a black & white slow motion video sequence played on a monitor. This looped video depicts the interaction between two young women who are looking at a photograph of a man posing at the beach. The potential for reading against a heterosexual construct is available within the particular kind and quality of gestures; a knowing glance...a bond of complicity...a secret contract expressed in the wink of an eye. The clip is taken from Maëdchen in Uniform, 1931 (Director: Leontine Sagan) a German film about the doomed lesbian love affair between a young schoolgirl and her teacher.

  • 24" video monitor, VHS deck


  • Part II consists of a looped video image projected onto a black & white photograph suspended from the ceiling, about 5 feet away from a wall. The video consists of a staged colour sequence montaged with another clip from Maëdchen. The slow motion cycle begins with an extreme close up of a mouth saying the word ?harbor? (there is no audio). Fade to white which dissolves into a film clip from Maëdchen. The film still, also taken from Maëdchen, depicts the protagonist who is the embodiment of transgression and desire in the film. The video image projected onto the suspended photograph spills over onto the rear wall, creating a spatial rupture in the visual field. An essential aspect of Part II is that the viewer exaggerates or bridges the ruptured image by moving at different angles to the projection.

  • Sony CPJ-100 mini Video Projector, tripod, VHS deck
  • Video projection: approx. 5? x 4?
  • Film still: 11" x 14".


  • There is no audio in this installation.

    This and other video installations by Nina Levitt are distributed by V/Tape, Toronto.

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