Private Project

Elemental Studies: Water (Part IV)

The final channel focuses on fluidity and its transmutation into "harbingers of dread" such as the rising flood. These films offer a glimpse into a reality perceived on all levels—"human or natural, tangible or ineffable"—as Massimo Ricci describes the multidisciplinary aptitude of the work. The visuals reveal the "immense strength" of water that remains "still unknown to us in spite of innumerable disasters around the globe". Through the "perfect synchrony of sound and picture," those who witness these films find themselves at the center of a "heightened sense of expanded perception". Water becomes a visceral exploration of the Earth’s distress, a cinematic "exquisite corpse" that invites the audience to "breathe within the imbalance." It serves as a final "intense concern for the future," providing a "composite formulation of an ideal future" despite the "blindness and deafness toward the sublime" found in modern industry.

SCORE

Illusion of Safety - Adrift

Massimo Toniutti - Current

Andrew Lagowski - Wake

The full film had its Irish Premiere at Gallery X (Dublin), was selected as the Best Arthouse Film in the Absurd Film Festival (Milan), and will be a featured 4-Channel AV Installation at the A4 Art Museum in Chengdu, China (Winter 2026-27).

  • TJ Norris
    Director
  • TJ Norris
    Producer
  • Dan Burke (aka Illusion of Safety)
    Score
  • Massimo Toniutti
    Score
  • Andrew Lagowski
    Score
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Music Video, Short
  • Genres:
    Experimental, Environmental
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 29 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 1, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable

  • United States
Director Biography - TJ Norris

TJ Norris is a Texas-based multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose lens-based practice spans over three decades of exploration into the intersection of humankind and the evolving urban landscape. Educated at the Massachusetts College of Art & Design and the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Norris employs a distinctive aesthetic filter rooted in the philosophy of wabi-sabi to capture the friction between the natural and the manufactured. His immersive cinematic projects range from the early short auto-porto-matic (1993), curated by Cheryl Dunye, to the ambitious 72-minute installation Infinitus (2008). Recently, his film work has gained significant international momentum, screening at festivals such as the East Village NY Film Festival and the Absurd Film Festival in Milan, where he received the award for Best Arthouse Film.

Beyond the screen, Norris’s international exhibition history includes features at Millepiani (Rome) and CoCA Seattle, supported by prestigious residencies at Caldera and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Art Center. Also an accomplished curator and author, he published his first photographic monograph, Shooting Blanks, in 2018. Today, his work is held in esteemed global collections, including the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Harvard University, and the Vanhaerents Art Collection. His practice continues to receive critical acclaim in major publications ranging from Leonardo (MIT Press) to The Boston Globe, cementing his role as a pivotal voice in contemporary visual and sonic dialogue.

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