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| "Separate"
a screaMachine 2005 proposal for: |
Tulca
Arts Festival, Galway,
Ireland |
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| "Separate" is
a 40 hour 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 set of animations, a performance and a live mixed video featuring
both. A nude performer, 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. After a period of dragging, the performer
rests on a bed of newspapers, continually draped in projected
images from above. He covers himself with newspaper as
a protection from the cold. He later emerges from this
resting phaze and takes back on the task of dragging
the burden. He alternates between dragging and resting
for the duration of the performance. |
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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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