Spatial Networks (2019)

Spatial (adj.) - The Relationship of Objects Within A Space

Networks (noun)- Interconnected chain of Group or Systems, Wires Interwoven.

Spatial Networks is a Performance Video Interactive Installation, 10 minutes and 47 seconds long, that bonds our relationship to the interconnected digital groups and systems running as veins for our progressions and stability as a society. Both Installation, performance, and video allow deeper exploration of these networks, the body within a digital space, and its impact on our lives.

Through the perfromance I am navigating societies, and my own, relationship to media; something viewed as both an enhancer and simultaneously a damper to our everyday lives. By creating a loose narrative though the movements and expressions of the body within a space, different character traits and ways of media interaction are explored.

The performance video begins with myself, dressed in black, walking through a flower field coming into a wide shot of myself entering frame, cautiously approaching a suspicious black square grounded into the landscape, drawing reference to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and monoliths. Serving to represent a larger political or cultural structure standing in as an organized whole, in this case: mass media.

The movements of the body mimic societies cautious curiosity to media through playful jumps and intense control around the unknown object. The moment I fully enter the monolith, the edit cuts to a computer screen pulling up a video of me entering the space, further separating the viewer from myself, while also making them question the media itself: is this intentional or a glitch in the video? The actions become increasingly playfully, touching wires and eventually pulling them out of the wall. A higher interest is sparked and the movements become more quick, and then soften, slowing down. The lines between a playful space and one of caution becomes blurred during two key moments. 1) the action of pulling wires between legs and wrapping them around the neck in a choking fashion and 2) carefully grabbing hold of a wire and stepping over, marking the moment of total consumption. From these points on, the movements become frantic, the body slamming against walls, and the struggle to hold up the body amongst the weight, ultimately mummifying the self leading to death.

Similar to Simone Fortis Rope Constructions (ongoing) in which she visualizes pedestrians daily motions, and Mathew Barneys Drawing Restraint (1987-ongoing), in which the space interrupts and defines his movements to draw on the walls; the set provides structure to the movements. While instead of visualizing daily motions, it visualizes a shared relationship with media. One that draws a fine line between playful desire and self-induced pain. The Movements, inspired by Dance Theatre Composer Pina Bausch and her use of simple exaggerated gestures to explore relationships and emotions, specifically stand in to mimic our puzzled relationship with the digital.

During the duration of the performance, there are moments in which I grab bundles of the ropes and place or wrap them on me, my body then blending in with the wires, vanishes the form. Other moments I am completely weighed down and entangled voluntarily. These moments of control and being controlled mingle and intertwine themselves, mirroring our confusion with media, questioning who is in control. Through this self imposed mummification the question arrises: Does death exist in the digital space, or through this process do we preserve a curated image of ourselves?

The landscape serves to distinguish nature vs machine while also mirroring our concerned interest with media. The desert, a place of purity and vast emptiness mimics a time pre-media, exaggerating the differences between the two.

The installation is a 9’x7’x7’ room that forces the viewers to crouch down to enter just as I did within the perfromance. Similar to Valie Export in Facing A Family (1971) the installation mirrors American media consumers, though the process of Mise en Abyme, placing a copy of an image within itself to suggest infinity or a reoccurring sequence. Mirroring the two allows viewers to experience and step into the same world I did within the video, while also voyeuristically watching me perform on the screen . Through the use of stylized dichotomies as ropes to stand in as wires and a single bulb to provide light I am painting the image of a server room.

Spatial Networks is my way of questioning a real experience within the digital age. My work focuses on media theory, specifically the behaviorism and effects media has. As Marshall McLuhan a famous media Theorist puts it, “the medium is the message”, further discussing that we should study media, not just the content it carries.

An endless loop between desire to consume and the consumer consuming. A push and a pull. A give and a take. A clash between a state of resistance and acceptance with an expectation of a reward of pleasure; our interaction is mechanical, we give to receive some output. This relationship and intersection we share with media on a everyday basis, is portrayed through my interaction within the space. As content creators on media platforms, we are constantly outputting without the awareness and ability to control the algorithms leaving many to feel consumed.

Esteemed as reputable, interaction and mass expenditure of the medium can draw one to insanity.