VIDEO ART, PERFORMANCE, & INSTALLATIONS

WERQ - Datamoshing

This video was created using a glitch technique called "datamoshing" or "pixel-bending". This process allows the artist to intentionally break the video codec, revealing the underlying structure of the programing language associated with digital files.

In this piece, I'm using 2 source videos found on youtube: one of a 10 year old girl at a dance competition, the other of an adult female dancing erotically as a promotional video for a strip club. In "moshing" these two videos together, I'm forcing the comparison of the over-sexualization of women's bodies. I'm also calling attention to the implication of sexualizing young girls too soon. The native audio tracks where left in the finished piece. I feel the songs with lyrics reinforce some of the topics I'm hoping to address with the piece. "Work. I'm here to Work. I am a professional" blares on in the background as the image of a little girl twerking is dissolved into the truncated and fetishized rear-end of an exotic dancer.

In using datamoshing, I'm revealing the "structure" of the videos. When watching, we are seldom aware of the underlying rigidity of the coding and programing which allows us to see movement and videos digitally. I wanted to call attention to this digital structure, as a way of drawing comparison to our cultural structures. These cultural structures reinforce gender binaries, propagate unfair pressures on young girls to be beautiful, and continue to perpetuate the notion that sexual desirability, above all, is what women should strive to achieve.

By using this technique to combine these videos, I'm ultimately breaking the structure as a way to reveal it is there. In breaking the video's codecs and structure, I'm making a connection to the structures society culture forces upon women, and hoping by revealing it's existence, we can one day break through it as well.

This piece screened at Art | Basel Miami at the Koubek Center, Miami, FL in 2014. 

"THE TROUBLE WITH WOMEN" 3D Projection Mapping Video Installation

This piece is a collaborative 3D projection installation with fellow artist Tim VanBeke. The work, titled "The Trouble With Women" shows the impossibly narrow and constraining boxes that women are expected to simultaneously occupy. Mother, virgin, whore, bitch...etc. These archetypal representations of women confine and contradict the often myriad and complex ways that women experience their gender throughout their lifetime. Using appropriated videos from archive.org, youtube, and personal videos dealing with body image, we created a piece that talks about the impossible standards set by patriarchal society. "The Trouble With Women" serves as a double entendre, speaking to the troubling nature of contradictory existence while also referencing the oppressive and misogynistic way culture teaches us to see women as less that whole people.

It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Fat

Fat bodies are considered abject, grotesque and inhuman in our society. Often times fat people are dehumanized, marginalized and demoralized in public by fetishizing their fat body parts on television, news stations, and in popular media. This short video piece deals with the hurtful things said to fat women about their bodies.

The hands, shadows, and light move across and sculpt the rolls of flesh in response to negative comments and attacks hurled at fat women in response to their physical appearance. Being fat in a society obsessed with body image is not only frowned upon, it's grounds for abusive treatment.

Every word in this video was actually spoken to me, or another woman I know about her body. This video shows the hard, unyielding reality of how the fat body is treated in American Culture.

Rotation Series - Video & Found Object Sculptural Installation

This series of videos explore creating atmosphere through color, texture, sound and space. The three videos feature found objects sourced from local consignment stores. By adding elements of color and texture, I wanted to create a bizarre environment for them to occupy. Using a rotating base, the videos explore pacing and movement to build tension and intrigue. These videos were shown projected into abandoned store front windows in downtown Adrian, MI during a "First Friday" arts event. The discarded objects shown in the empty store front draws some interesting connections between capitalism, objective value, and memory. 

Still shots from the installation and set up. Exhibited as part of the "First Fridays - Light Up The Night" Show in Adrian, MI. February 2016. Video excerpts below.

COMMISSIONED WORKS

OLD MASTERS IN CONTEXT SERIES - Jon Gossaert's Madonna and Child 

This series of animated videos was commissioned by the Chrysler Museum of Art with sponsorship by the KRESS Foundation. These short videos were displayed on a kiosk in the gallery so museum goers could learn more about the history of the work and hopefully gain more context and perspective. I was responsible for the animation, video editing, design, and DVD production of this project. Completed in March of 2007, the work was on display in the museum until early 2008.