Monday, June 8, 2015

An Exciting New Digital Video ! ! !

I created a 10-minute collection of clips from a larger, 15-hour video cataloging the entirety of my day with its routines and irregularities. I was much inspired by Bill Owens, particularly his photo series Suburbia and his movies like Eat This and Montana. I think this simple, unedited capturing of the world around the artist is very meaningful. Michel de Certeau, in his bible The Practice of Everyday Life, talks about artists' views of the world on page 92:
"Medieval or Renaissance painters represented the city as seen in a perspective that no eye had yet enjoyed. This fiction already made the medieval spectator into a celestial eye. It created gods."
This idea became evident to me during this project because as I worked, I became so familiar with the details of that one day to the point that I saw things that I didn't when it was happening. So, thanks to the iPhone and digital video, I have a stronger connection with the things around me. Another reason I think I was attracted to this project is my fear of losing moments or forgetting things that could be important. I keep a lot of things partly because I just like stuff but also because I worry that I will have a use for it in the future and then wait until that moment comes. Much like Thierry Guetta, featured in the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, who compulsively films everything due to a deep fear of missing important events (stemming from his mother's death), I want to hold on to funny things, good moments, and happy memories.

http://youtu.be/iSFpk-mfg3c