I just uploaded this performance piece I did. Keep in mind that this is all real and I did not coregraph every action. I set myself up in a situation to see if I could escape it. Please turn your volume up, comment, and feel free to criticize.
-Laser!, Corcoran BFA ‘09
(ps. I use “Laser” to separate my art from my other professional pursuits)
this is really interesting! i like the direction you are going with this. my favorite part is the endurance aspect – the endurance of the viewer along with you, as they root for you to get out of that ribbon. i was kinda disappointed that you didn’t continue to struggle with it when you fell down though, and let the falling down become you succumbing to the ribbon.
Really? I have an alternate ending to this where I am doing just what you said! It’s on my You Tube account click here And do you think I should not have edited it down? Maybe I should have kept it ten minutes long so that the audience HAD to endure the whole thing with me? Or would they get bored if it was the total ten minutes?
this idea of endurance in videos for both the artist and the viewer is something that i think a lot about for video art. sometimes videos are unnecessarily long you know? when a short edited version would be fine – i feel like there are too many of these in existence.
thats why its tricky to find the right balance, but i think with this piece, a HUGE part of it is to get the viewer to empathize with you and really want you to break free and see that you are really struggling, which i feel like the version that just ends with you falling down doesn’t have. so i would prefer the longer version to the shorter edited on. or what if the piece just seemed to be continuous? like there was no end to it?
also something that always comes up in crits here whenever someone shows a video is the setting of it, so think about how it would change if you were in a completely white room, or if the room had carpet, etc.
not big on the title. however, the piece itself is compelling and strong. for sure. hate to be so “common,” but i have to say “i like it.” and, for what it’s worth, i rarely respond viscerally or aesthetically to video pieces. I think you should leave it the full 10 minutes. and not fall down at the end. i think it’s a “dull” ending for a particularly “sharp” piece.