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Hidden Mechanisms: An
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Fashioning each piece from a familiar item- still photographs-and the necessary optical devices allows me to create a being which speaks with its voice of animated, projected gestures. By exposing the physical apparatus which drives the bodies into action, I draw a parallel between this machinery and the mechanisms of our unconscious: defense mechanisms, sex drives, thinking patterns, self control, dreams, lines of reasoning, impulses, natural instincts. As a stand-in for a human presence, brain, or psyche, each machine generates and repeats a dialog of images for itself and the viewer. Through this dialog, each being tells its own story and plays out its own neurosis.
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After stepping into the darkness of the installation, viewers immediately re-orient themselves to the spinning lights and flickering images that illuminate the walls, paper screens, and objects. Venturing further into this labyrinthine room of bodies, one encounters nine separate tableaus, each of which inhabits a discreet corner or space. By entering each "interior," viewers occupy a psychological space as well as a physical site. Like an inescapable memory of a disturbing event, the images in each setting are powered by their own interior systems, replaying themselves as if some master control mechanism had failed. The incidents that I depict are intentionally recognizable and deceptively simple: a child consumes food, a woman curtsies, an eye roams the room, two feet walk on a tightrope. As they play, converse, interact, and perform for each other and the viewer, however, the extended play is propelled into an endless abyss of circular struggle. What appears to be an ordinary game, conversation, or arrangement ultimately becomes a performance for survival. |
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