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| "Separate"
a screaMachine 2005 proposal for: |
9th
Annual D.U.M.B.O. |
Art
Under the Bridge Festival |
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"Separate" is
a multimedia installation/performance that addresses
issues of homelessness and disenfranchisement. It serves
as metaphor for the many burdens of the human condition
that are experienced by each of us alone. It raises issues
about the burden of trying to exist in an increasingly
technological society, where identity is reliant on participation.
It comprises a set of animations, a performance and a
live mixed video featuring both.
A performer in white coveralls, pulling a weighted milk
crate, drags this burden around within the confines of
the performance area. He carries a video projector strung
around his neck, that projects animations onto the ground
ahead of him. The performer slowly drags his burden round
and round the location. He is illuminated from above by
video projections
which form a large pool of light which is the performance
area. On adjacent walls we see projected the animations
of a wandering homeless person in a desolate landscape,
mixed live with footage of the performer in the space.
The end result is a constant mixing and remixing of the
images of the live performer and the animated character. |
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Projected
from above onto the ground, forming the
performance space, is a timelapse movie showing the
performer lying naked on a bed of newspapers (shot from above) whilst illuminated
by the same animated footage used in this performance. 12 hours are reduced
in time to 1 hour, which is then looped.
This 12 hour performance took placed in the ISCP in Midtown earlier this
year |
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"Separate"
is a performance series that mixes technology with live action performance. The
struggle of the performer, as he wanders in a confined space, is enhanced
by the animated imagery projected onto the ground ahead of him. Images of
individual struggle are projected into this live scene of a man pulling a
weight. With the metaphorical weight of the world in tow, the performer makes
slow progress in solitude.
" Separate" provides a metaphor for struggles of mankind against the
world of their creation. To be human is to struggle with the human condition,
but it is also to struggle to exist physically within the constructs of mankind...
even the most far removed tribal communities are effected by, and interconnected
with, world affairs, the internet, cell phones and other technological achievements.
The trials of nature have all but been replaced by human constructs, especially
in the Western world, so the struggle for survival becomes a struggle to fit
in to society and to function as befits a productive member of the community.
While we all experience a degree of personal isolation, those outside of society
suffer an isolation uniquely extreme; the struggle to survive within the system
is doubled by the rejection inherent in that system; personal isolation is compounded
by physical, technological and financial isolation.
Like a modern Sisyphus, or Beckett's iconic walkers, the performer is locked
into a pattern of endlessly moving a weight, a burden, while surrounded by reminders
of his status and the workings of the machine that provides his burden. |
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Map of D.U.M.B.O. area featuring location
of installation |
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