THE SUPREME SPASM
4 channel video installation, 15 mins, 2016.
The Supreme Spasm is adapted from Paul Margueritte's 1888 play Pierrot murderer of his wife, about a mime who tickles his wife to death. After her demise, her spirit enters him and tickles him until he expires as well.
The installation re-conceptualizes surveillance as an act of performance, with Pierrot controlling the cameras. Each camera angle is a recording of a different performance, creating an uncanny, ghost-like performance of surveillance. An allegorical structure for revealing the slippages of identity, The Supreme Spasm enacts a dialogue between contemporary forms (surveillance, social media) and ancient ones (mime, theater) in order to trace the historical roots of our fascination with performance of the self.
Installation view at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin.
