Paths & Plots
Title
Paths & Plots
Date/s
1999
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Discipline
Painting | Printmaking | Performance
Artist Statement
“… Parents in the dystopian future bargain with corporations for access to their children, each providing an individual account of why they are eligible based on the premise of ‘fair and reasonable’. Faced with a myriad of sub-clauses designed to enshrine the ‘rights of the child’, parents relent to supervised visits based on their marital status and capacity to provide for their children. Directed by Crystal Challenger, who appears as the performance artist in ‘Paths & Plots’ the omniscient telling-tube, the television, glows as does the ladder stand tall, small steps to a higher view on the scene unfolding below. A human is ordered to assemble their proof, stripped bare, then breaks the paper trail in an act of defiance, a symbolic re-dress of a human system gone wrong. Produced by artist Alexander Hayes with sound and audio engineer Rob Muir, this performance artwork is a disturbing rendition of human cruelty, a statement about a failing system, not unlike the barbaric acts of interrogation suffered by criminals or terrorists stripped of their humanity.”
Substrate
Printmaking: Open bite solar etched monotype - Adobe Photoshop derivations;
Filmmaking: VHS low-res monochrome;
Videography - Various editing programs;
Audio: Plunderphonics - Various sources.
Dimensions
Printmaking: 160mm x 90mm (editions of 10 plus AP);
Filmmaking: ‘Paths & Plots’ - 00:14:50 -.AVI | .MOV | .MP4 format;
Audio: .WAV | .MP3 format.
Status
Project complete; Prints exhibition in 1999 ‘ Corridors’ exhibition, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia; Performance conducted at end of unit 7695: Visual Research 292 tutorial in November 1999.
