Video art piece created from multiple public domain clips.
Playing around with public domain content from the Prelinger Archives of Hoppy the Bunny. When is it that we lose our innocence? How gradually does it die, and do we notice it when it is gone?
Title: Picture My Reflection
Photos I took thinking about some theorists we studied in my Picture Theory class. The two theorists I was primarily thinking about was Lacan and Foucalt, especially with regard to “The Mirror Stage” and “This is Not a Pipe.” The photos I took are extremely meta because it is pictures of my reflection inside pictures of my reflection. One can’t really tell what is actually an image of me and what is actually an image of my reflection inside an image of my reflection. In this sense, it is asking the question if I am in the image at all, because my reflection is not me and the picture is not me (This is Not a Pipe), and of course this naturally leads to the connection between self and image of self which is related to the Mirror Stage. I was also thinking about the gaze, and what it means to replace the camera with the organic gaze ( now that we are treating is as being more objective and better than the human eye). I was trying to challenge the idea of the camera really being superior with these photos.
More playing around with programming in processing, still exploring what is possible.
Returning to playing with painterly effects created in programming, in some ways similar to “The Painted Self.” This time, though, the change in the image is less obvious and there is a more of a rain like effect instead of a moving texture. I wanted to evoke a mood of melancholy and reflection.
Another program coded in processing, thinking about sight. Specifically about shame associated with being seen and wanting to hide from the sight of others. Also asking the question of what it really means to see, especially on a spiritual level. We place a lot of value on sight, but just because we have eyes does not mean we see what is really important.
This program went through several changes of editing. It started out with an image of my face, but I felt that the lying form is more compelling and implies surrender. I wanted the moving forms to resemble worms, partially in reference to an old song I used to hear all the time as a kid: “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms.” There’s a strange pleasure I think we gets sometimes when wallowing in melancholy and self pity. Sometimes we surrender to the worms, but it is dangerous to stay in that state too long.
