The Astronaut

Katy Schimert’s alchemical abstract narrative The Astronaut 1996 a short 16mm black and white film with color inserts follows two characters, Dracula and The Astronaut. Both young men mysteriously roam the frozen surface of Lake Erie, which in its ice-laden state resembles the barren surface of the moon or an unknown planet. The Astronaut partakes in a somnambulist walkabout eventually crossing paths with Dracula, meeting in space but not in time. The film functions as both a drawing and a sculptural container engaged within a landscape, a bricolage of fluids, of ice and blood, the two men are led by her gaze, the artist, director, their lover Katy Schimert.