Marey’s Chronograms. Dr. Nathan passed the illustrations across his desk to Margaret Travis. ‘Marey’s Chronograms are multiple exposure photographs in which the element oftime is visible -the walking human figure, for example, is represented as a series of dune-like lumps. ‘ Dr. Nathan accepted a cigarette from Catherine Austin, who had sauntered forward from the incubator at the rear of the office.Ignoring herequizzical eye, he continued.‘Your husband brilliant feat was to reverse the process. Using a series of the most commonplace objects – this office,let ussay, a panorama ofNew York Skyscrapers, the naked body of awoman, the face of a catatonic patient – he treated them as ifthey already were chromograms andextracted the element oftime. ‘ Dr. Nathan lit his cigarette with care. ‘The results were extraordinary. A very different world was revealed. The familiar surroundings of our lives, even our smallest gestures, were seen to have totally altered meanings. Asfor the reclining figure of a film star or this hospital…’

— from J.G. Ballard, the Atrocity Exhibition