DOUBLED UP IN YOUR IMAGE

2018

An immersive, interactive installation that manifests the dissociative effects of trauma through tech-enhanced sculptures, videos, paintings, sounds, and scents. Together, these elements create a post-traumatic impression of a bedroom that exposes participants to a caustic outer space, and secluded inner space hidden inside the bed’s frame.

Pieces in the installation include: Bed/Cave (2018), Exhaust (2018), Their Image Over You (2018), Get Out of My Room (2018), Echo’s Bouquet (2018), and encompassing mural, soundscape, and light installation.

The exhibition received press from multiple outlets, including a review in Forbes and an interview with Ravelin Magazine.

Bed/Cave (2018) - Climb onto this imposingly large, burnt bed and descend through a hole in the mattress into a soft, cave-like space hidden within. Inside, the video piece 'Exhaust' is projected, accompanied by a cathartic soundscape.

84 x 64 x 72 in. (exterior), 72 x 52 x 46 in. (interior)

wood, foam, fabric, paint, hardware, chickenwire, combustion, projector, speakers, cables, single-channel video

Their Image Over You (2018): When visitors approach either of two vanity mirrors, they see a live video feed of the back of their own heads, creating an infinite, fractal-like series of distorted reflections.

78 x 31.5 x 8” each

wood, acrylic, hardware, paint, hydrocal, combustion, tv monitor, camcorder, cables

Exhaust (2018) - this video, projected inside the Bed/Cave, shows a figure constantly expelling smoke, while a soundscape featuring my grandmother playing cello + a choir singing backwards plays on hidden surround sound speakers.

48 x 27” projection

Single-channel video, 06:51 min

(suggested start 5:18 min)

Get Out of My Room (2018): Sconce lights translate a voice screaming ‘get out of my room’ into flickers of light

6 x 6 x 30” each

brass, silk, light bulb, combustion, wiring, light organ, amplifer, mp3 player, audio file

KEY COLLABORATORS:

Keyhan Kamelian: Sound Designer

Nicky Johnson: Co-carpenter

Adam Carboni: Cinematographer

Susan Cornner: Cellist

THANKS TO:

David Plastino

Tony Oursler

Mitchell Zemil

Peter Sluskza

Matt Scharenbroich

Alexandra Lake

Liz Fillion

Katherine Brewer

 

A few people left notes in the gallery’s guest book - while I know anecdotally that this work was difficult for many people to experience, these testimonies suggest that others were positively impacted: