The Physiognomy Projects
The Physiognomy projects started with a video that was made in 2009, which was partly inspired by Martin Creeds vomit videos. The intention was to try and puncture the projection of ourselves that we present to the world in an attempt to reveal a greater truth. A truth that emanates from an automated and unconscious reaction that reveals a Materialist inspired set of adaptations and shatters our constructed illusion of self.
This was followed by the Wirksworth Project, where this work was turned into an audience engagement piece for the Wirksworth festival near Derby in 2009. Two weeks before the festival I visited Wirksworth and invited villagers to sit for a video portrait. During this they were experimented on in a similar fashion. A balloon was burst and then, when they had recovered, they were asked a multiplication question. These videos were then back projected onto the page of a large book in a bookstore during the festival.
The results were interesting both from the perspective of revealing a truth in an unconscious act (shock) but also in the reinterpretation of mental strain doing math as spiritual moment - a fabrication. Unfortunately, the video was affected by the poor equipment used to record it and attempts to reformat it on new software. I have decided to show stills instead. The video documents all of the physiognomy experiments as a whole including a later test for a sneeze related piece done in 2016.
These are works that I am very interested in repeating in relation to New Materialist philosophical concerns and the role of 'viral' culture in relation to memetics.
This was followed by the Wirksworth Project, where this work was turned into an audience engagement piece for the Wirksworth festival near Derby in 2009. Two weeks before the festival I visited Wirksworth and invited villagers to sit for a video portrait. During this they were experimented on in a similar fashion. A balloon was burst and then, when they had recovered, they were asked a multiplication question. These videos were then back projected onto the page of a large book in a bookstore during the festival.
The results were interesting both from the perspective of revealing a truth in an unconscious act (shock) but also in the reinterpretation of mental strain doing math as spiritual moment - a fabrication. Unfortunately, the video was affected by the poor equipment used to record it and attempts to reformat it on new software. I have decided to show stills instead. The video documents all of the physiognomy experiments as a whole including a later test for a sneeze related piece done in 2016.
These are works that I am very interested in repeating in relation to New Materialist philosophical concerns and the role of 'viral' culture in relation to memetics.