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In his productions, Steve Fagin, lecturer in Visual Arts at the University of San Diego, investigates the myths that persist for Western historiography and thus compels us to take a different view of facts. In this, he regularly puts aside history, for example, by allowing Flaubert and Roussel to make a journey which in fact never took place. ('The Amazing Voyage of Gustave Flaubert and Raymond Roussel', 1986). In 'The machine that killed Bad People' (1990) he dealt with the fall of the Marcos regime by looking at the way in which the media had reported this. For '0° latitude', Fagin went to Ecuador, on the equator, where faith has lost practically none of its power. Interviews with Ecuadorians, particularly ex-pupils of the North American 'Summer Institute of Linguistics' give an idea of the influence that this evangelical institute had from the fifties to the eighties. Partly because of this missionary work, the country still wrestles with the heritage of religions that were forced upon it by outsiders, starting with the Spanish conquest, five centuries after its 'discovery'. As in earlier productions, Fagin uses staged fragments as a counterpoint. In '0° latitude' we see a white woman wrestle with frightening machines which proved to bear the name of Celestial Gambling or Mother of Seizures. In the voice over can be heard the tired voice of a bible seller who gets excited only about baseball. Even those who have been permeated with His Goodness do not always find things easy.
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André Nientied
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Camera: Bertha Jottar, Melodie Calvert, Light: John Martin, Editing: Tom Hayes, Tim Frank, Sound: Steve Albanese, Al Dudek, Calligraphy: Ann Woods, Translation: Dabbie Katzman, Ron Ezcurra, Nick Silverio, Bertha Jottar, Production assistant: Bertha Jottar, Andrea Slane, Lisa Johnson, Production: Bad People Productions, Peter Rollins, Steve Anderson
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