Public site-specific video installation
Dimensions: 9 ft x 3 ft.
Materials: TV's, DVD players, plastic wrap, power cords, paint, tape
Completed: 2013
This work was exhibited in the No Name Galleries in Halifax, a series of four empty window spaces located in the heart of downtown. I transformed these spaces into street-front "white cube" exhibition areas, situated at the base of the Roy Building on Barrington Street. The No Name Galleries provide an immediate, visceral, and unmediated art viewing experience for the local population, with an average of 1,000 people passing by the windows each day.
The installation featured five boxy television monitors of relatively similar size, stacked one on top of the other and bound together with plastic wrap for structural integrity. Each of the five monitors displayed extreme close-up footage of blinking, twitching eyeballs, creating an unsettling yet captivating visual experience. Above this stack, a large flat-panel monitor was hung, showcasing a gaping mouth performing a variety of abstract movements, further enhancing the installation's anthropomorphic qualities.
Audio, video, and power cords dangle from the ceiling, surrounding the stack and contributing to the overall aesthetic. The plastic wrap encasing each monitor was intentionally ripped open, allowing the video screens to emerge from their confines. The videos of the blinking eyes and gaping mouth each played on a rapid 30-second loop.