SFX FADE IN: Ambient sound from climbing gym; sounds of clipping in

COURTNEY MORENO:

There’s definitely a lot of blood rushing to my head… I mean it feels very fly on the wall in terms of the perspective…

NARRATOR (coming in over the gym):

That’s aerial dancer Courtney Moreno, hanging vertically in exactly the same position as the woman in this sculpture.

MORENO:

There’s something sort of secretive about it maybe no one can see me, because of what I can and can’t see.

NARRATOR:

Kiki Smith, the artist, named this piece Lilith.

KIKI SMITH (cross fades):

I mean Lilith is a kind of shunned character but then she was looked at again as a female defiant figure that she’s the –you know, traditionally, the first wife of Adam. And she won’t lay under him.

NARRATOR:

According to Hebrew legends, Adam and Lilith were made from the same substance. So she saw herself as an equal.

SMITH:

Like she won’t be domesticated in a certain sense. She was this sort of uncontrollable spirited creature.

NARRATOR:

So God cast Lilith away to live as a night demon.

MORENO:

I feel sneaky and kind of coiled up, like I’m about to pounce or I’m about to spring sideways or something like that.

NARRATOR:

Did you get a look at her eyes? Smith got them from a German doll maker. Is it just me, or is there some force behind them?

SMITH:

It’s very disconcerting,

NARRATOR (coming in over the top):

The sound of this audio clip is really bad, but what she’s saying is very interesting –

SMITH:

It’s very disconcerting, like when I’ve lived with my work, I didn’t like it because I like to live alone, and I didn’t like [laughter] other beings there…

NARRATOR:

Let’s get back to Courtney, who’s still hanging on the wall –

MORENO:

Then in terms of flying out from here, I can push off my left foot…here I go….

SFX: sound of the ropes as she leaps off the wall Ambi voice: — You look like a night flying demon! [Laughter]