Humour is essential.
I address a range of issues in my practice. The individual and collective, the impact of institutional systems and structures which digs deeper into our everyday and what makes us manoeuvre. Yet when my work is presented it often appears effortless – a layer of humour mostly acts as access or trigger; visual, performative, verbal, (non-)verbal. Sometimes the playful side finds its way in while developing work conceptually. I see humour as cognitive involvement thats links with experience – in this case collectivelly recognisable.
My (first ever) animation ‘Read/Unread’ is hands-on and straight forward. First of all, it is a humorous take on the never ending process and occupation of finding arguments. Infinite pros and cons. The constant up and down suggests a competitive mechanism – maybe a continuous outperforming of the other side. It is not simply about performing rather switching between relative positions; one that might be better, further or higher than the other. Competitive hierarchies are part of our reality from very early on and fostered throughout by measured performance. Stars, grades, ranks, achievement levels etc. makes us function in structures and systems as we are exposed to and adopt ways of manoeuvring which form part of our everyday behaviour; both socially and professionally.
Heads up from the underlying thoughts this animation is a start, a new format. It does what I want yet I am aware it is not technically advanced. I photographed over 50 frames and choreographed a 30s sequence. Having never done an animation before leaves much to look into.
Watching the two piles of books fluctuating effortlessly keeps me thinking of a flip book. An animated sequence of images gives the illusion of movement; forwards and backwards; not being concerned of the result quite contrary to a competitive intention. It also suggests a game, a structured play saying ‘Keep up!’. It is tempting to follow the up and down of piles and questions arise – is there a goal, a final direction? Or is the animated sequence simply reflecting on competition as something to embark on playfully?
Read/Unread, 2014
