Expanded Cinema
I’m drawn to the guerrilla nature of Expanded Cinema, using large-scale projections to engage unsuspecting passersby. Breaking free from the cinema screen, the freedom to choose the projection surface adds another layer of commentary, allowing the space itself to interact with and amplify the video. This approach creates an immediate, immersive experience that invites reflection on themes like technology, labor, and societal issues in a way that is both striking and accessible.
Censorship
Disgusted by the police intervention in peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstrations and the lack of transparency with the student body, and infuriated with the hypocrisy of these actions in light of the University’s pioneering efforts for free speech legislature, I installed this 7 story projection on the side of a University building.
With regards to visuals and protest, Krzystof Wodiczko’s 1988 projection onto the Hirshhorn Museum was an inspiration. Like Wodiczko, I used low-key and spot-light lighting to emphasize the gavel, mug, red tie, and destruction of microphones in the video.
Where the head would be of the suited person, there appear excerpts from the Chicago Statement, a pioneering document for free speech at universities originally crafted by the University of Chicago in 2015 and then adopted by hundreds of influential universities across the nation. The work is not subtle, and instead deliberately on the nose. The suit symbolizes the university and the pin is in reference to the university’s use of the UCPD, one of the largest private police forces in the country. The gavel destroying the microphones is symbolic of the destruction of free speech and the lack of information given to students. The gavel is associated with law but in the video is used violently as force, speaking to how the university threatens UCPD force and disciplinary measures to subdue the students’ right to speak out and demand change.
Fall
My work aims to display the emotions, sensations, internal and external conflicts, and dissociation that happen in moments of alien experiences. By projecting the fall up into a chimney, the viewer is disoriented by direction, adding a shared anxiety to the piece. The act of looking up is also often a religious act or self-reflective act, therefore inviting viewers to grapple with death and uncertainty. A Short History of Myth, by Karen Armstrong, emphasizes that myths are essentially anecdotes that help us understand our lives and circumstances. Tacita Dean’s installation at the Tate Modern utilized masking and superimposition, which inspired me to use similar techniques to get interesting visual effects. Using multiple projectors, and shifting projections from dark rooms into three-dimensional spaces further distances these installation videos away from traditional cinema. What I have learned from this is that it is important to constantly take videos, and to have a library of strange visuals for future projects.
Cafeteria
This installation explores the tension between automation and human labor, inspired by the conveyor belts in my cafeteria. While these machines appear automatic they conceal the human labor that is ultimately cleaning thousands of dirty dishes. Drawing on Paul Sharits' call for humanitarian purpose in expanded cinema, my work questions how machines can mask and exploit human relationships. By projecting a video of dirty dishes seamlessly becoming cleaned, onto stained aprons, this tension and invisibility between technological and human labor is brought to the surface.
