The Hex of Ergot (Popping Corn)

"A Super 8 work entirely edited in camera, and shot and processed in one day during the Spur Exchange artist residency, ‘The hex of ergot (popping corn)’ is a musing on the connection between grain, ergot (a poisonous and sometimes hallucinogenic fungus that can grow when grain is damp), the witch-hunt trials in Salem in the 1690s, and consumerism in Leeds. While popcorn and cinema have a long and well-known affinity, the Spur Exchange residency took place in the Corn Exchange, where corn and other grains used to be traded. It’s now full of shops and restaurants, and has a carefully monitored aesthetic and ambience." — M.J.