Synopsis

A grotesque mechanical performer pounds through the opening section of Aphex Twin's "Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount." Its central figure combines a grinning monkey head with a human torso, multiple articulated limbs, metal supports, and a bizarre drumstick-like appendage. The camera keeps the strange performer in view as its arms and legs twitch, strike percussion, and react to the music's frantic programming. The result is a compact collision of slapstick, body horror, robotics, and electronic rhythm, with the physical performance becoming an unsettling visual counterpart to the track's relentless complexity.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video uses the first two and a half minutes of "Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount," the tenth track on Aphex Twin's 2001 album *drukQs*.

• The human body parts belonged to Sigtryggur Baldursson, a founding member of Icelandic band The Sugarcubes and a former member of Kukl. His torso was removed during post-production and replaced with the mechanical body.

• The monkey head was operated through puppetry by Paul "Slash" Morris and Justin Flack.

• The concept was inspired by old-fashioned wind-up monkey toys. The idea was to imagine a contemporary version performing an impossibly fast Aphex Twin track.

• The piece was commissioned by London's Anthony d'Offay Gallery and conceived as a companion to *Flex*. It was not completed in time for the gallery's September 2000 exhibition.

• Its first public presentation came at the 49th Venice Biennale in June 2001, where it was shown as a video installation rather than a conventional television music video.

• The work later appeared on a Creative Review DVD in November 2001 and on the 2003 *Directors Label: The Work of Director Chris Cunningham* DVD.

• In 2002, it won Best 3D Animation in a Music Video at the International Monitor Awards.