Matthew Day Jackson & Olivia Fermi: Playing Squash, 28 minute video loop, Los Alamos, New Mexico 2009.

Photo Above: After the game, Matt makes fierce faces and poses as if to strike. I body check Matt sending him to the wall. Matt leaps into the air behind me as I lunge across his path. We duel with our rackets and end with a circular flowing dance to the wind. Photos & Videography by Joseph Hung. Full Story at the Los Alamos Monitor. If you do not subscribe to the Los Alamos Monitor, view full text of their article here.

Here is the original email invitation I received from Matt dated October 27, 2008:
This is an enquiry e-mail via http://fermieffect.com from:
Matthew Day Jackson < @ .com>

Hello,

My name is Matthew Day Jackson and I am an artist that lives in Brooklyn, NY. I am doing an art exhibition at the List Center at MIT in Cambridge, MA in May 2009.

I wanted to invite any of the family to play me in a game of squash at the University of Chicago [cheeky reference to the first controlled nuclear reaction set up by my grandfather Enrico Fermi, in an abandoned double squash court at the University of Chicago, 1942]. I was hoping to play a family member and to have it recorded and covered as a professional match would. Or, recorded from overhead like watching players on a chessboard.

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I thought it would be fun, and perhaps a rewarding experience. The end product would be shown at the List Center as a part of my exhibition in May 2009, with the working title, “The Immeasurable Distance”. Much of the work in the show is about human evolution being beyond our flesh, enabled by science.

I of course would cover travel, and lodging to Chicago and meals. I would also provide racquet, and balls, and safety goggles.

Please email me if this sounds interesting, and please know that I am sincere in this request. The final product would be just a direct video document that would have no narration or overdubbing. Just simply the sound from the court and the players on the court. It will be one game to 15, or whatever the family member in question prefers.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Sincerely,
Matthew Day Jackson