In an on-line adventure, Laurel Casey, writer, singer and performer happens upon a small camper, a ’67 Euriba Puck, in hopes of fulfilling a dream of living an engaging nomadic (and romantic) life. Fueled by this fantasy, she spends $10,000 on a small camper that falls short of her expectation. In this short video, Ms. Casey reveals tribulations of aging and living a life of happiness. The producer, David Lackey, in hopes of redeeming her fantasy, invites his friend, Terry Parke, to employ AI to realize what might only exist in her imagination.
The story behind the Euriba Puck
The Euriba Puck video happened quite unexpectedly. A friend, Laurel Casey, made an impulsive investment in a 67’ Euriba Puck, buying it unseen on-line. She arranged to have the puck delivered from Tennessee to our place in the Hudson Valley. One night after midnight in April of 2024, the camper arrived at the head of our driveway. On a cold, rainy April night, I unloaded the Puck with our truck and parked it in an available parking space under some tall trees, where it remained for almost 6 months. During this time, Laurel made a visit to inspect the Puck and reacted with near horror at its sad condition. She traveled on to Vermont and continued to struggle to make sense of her impulsive investment.
Over this time, I became quite attached to the Puck. Despite its tattered interior, scratched and dented body and rusted underside, I felt a magical attachment to it. It’s smallness and aging appearance communicated both a vulnerability and strength to me.
I wrote in a text to Laurel, “It’s presence expresses two qualities of the human condition: it is small, round, weathered and rusted, offering both protection and needing care.
Laurel, in the meantime, was haunted by her impulsive decision to buy it for $10,000. She knew its restoration would cost thousands more and she could not afford the cost. With a resolution to sell it, she listed it on eBay and after several failed attempts, agreed to sell it for $3,000 to a Mexican who restored VWs.
The thought of the Puck leaving caused a kind of nostalgia in me and I made a late desperate offer to buy the thing for $5,000 and take it on the road as a kind of video art project. I would produce a film, set up a crowdfunding site and raise a full $5,000 to redeem Laurel’s investment. I began to fantasize creating Puck narratives, inviting people of many talents to sit in the camper. I would take it on the road and the series would unfold as a collaboration with other people. The Puck unleashed in me an exhilarating creative urge not felt in years.
My offer to Laurel came too late. The Mexican, Manuel, had paid a deposit on the trailer and the transport. The deposit on the transport was non-refundable. My conscious could not cheat him on his investment. In the last two days of the Puck on my property, I spontaneously filmed a friend, Terry Parke, in a frantic effort to realize part of my fantasy with the Puck. I knew the Puck would be gone in a few days. So, I set about photographing the Puck, interviewing Laurel and inviting a friend to create with the use of AI multiple images of the Puck. This video captures Laurel’s dreams of a different life traveling with the Puck and uses Terry’s genius in altering images to illustrate the strange fantasies that were occurring in Laurel’s imagination.
The second film, Passing Time Inside the Puck, captures Terry’s own work in AI and his reflection on the Puck as a metaphor for our aging bodies and the need to create anything, meaningful or not.
David Lackey, Eye of the Whirlwind
October 18, 2024