Look, look at the moving picture

The talking portraits of Harry Potter's castle-cum-art gallery are one step closer to reality at the Sackler's exihibit, the Rise and Fall of Fiona Tan. Encased in picture frames, she's filmed her subjects - a nephew, a mother-in-law, a grocer and his son. We see their faces, the signifiers of their lives - bags of dry goods, toys, pieces of art collected on mantlepieces. The style is distinctive, sharp black and white video, a contemplative stillness while moving (how is that possible), the signature of the portraitist. They are on the verge of conversing with us, perhaps in the next genre.