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Define
Me proposal |
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"Define
Me" features the artist getting a tattoo on his
stomach. This tattoo comprises a series of identification
numbers and letters which start at his belly button and
spiral clockwise out to cover his belly. The characters
are in sequence, but not separated by punctuation, starting
with his birth date and proceeding through the various
identifiers that he accumulated in his life so far, including:
Irish social security number, Irish passport number,
Irish driving license, US alien registration number,
US social security number,US naturalization number, US
passport number, US driving license and more.
This is an ongoing project whereby the artist will add characters as they are
allocated to him throughout his life. The final set of numbers and letters at
his death, will define the life he has lead and reflect the various legal quantifications
that have been imposed upon him in his lifetime. |
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The
artist will video tape his tattooing with a macro
camera and broadcast this extreme close up video
of each numeral as it appears in his flesh, to
a large screen nearby. Onlookers can watch the
tattooing or choose to watch the screen with a
very intimate level of detail. They will see the
numbers draw blood and irritate the flesh as they
grow in this spiral out from the navel, the original
source of life and caregiving and the birthplace
of identity (severing of the umbilical cord produces
separation and is the birth of identity). |
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order to live in the modern world one's status needs
to be determined and defined; hence the need to identify
everyone. Our various numerical identities give us power
(such as the right to live in a certain geographical
area or the right to operate a type of vehicle, while
also defining us as a certain "type",
which is often exclusive of other possibilities of type. To have a certain passport
excludes you from having another certain one etc. The defining of people according
to the many unrelated criteria for identification, limits their ability to be.
Categorizing is a form of quantification, but also a form of quantizing, whereby
idiosyncratic smaller details are omitted to generate a "bigger picture".
It is the details that really define us, that make personality, that make each
of us unique. These details exist outside of the numbers. |
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In
Define Me, the artist is taking control of the numbers
that he had no part in creating. He is taking them
and really making them part of him; he is possessing
them, owning them and turning them into something
bigger. Unrelated numbers from unrelated systems
are amassed into a living, evolving whole that is
greater than its parts, that perhaps goes some way
further in defining him than was ever envisioned
by the bureaucrats that instigated the systems. The
numbers become flesh, become living and fade with
age, and suffer deterioration from abrasion and wounding,
as does the artist. The spiral will grow, gaining
new life each time the artist is redefined by some
system. The absurdity and randomness of the numbers
is brought to the fore by the lack of punctuation;
any number can start anywhere and end anywhere.
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Supported
by video projections, and a live camera projection, the
artist will be tattooed with the 228 characters accrued
so far, over a period of four hours.
Tattoo artist: Nala Smith
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