Show/Down (installation view)
The departure point for this 3 part work are my memories of watching Westerns on the big screen and Western series on our small black and white TV. These films and images raise questions on how such iconic pictures have created a collective memory and contributed to the visual mythology of the American west. To begin, I reviewed 35 popular western movies and series, painstakingly listing moments of gun shots from men on horseback or shooting at close range to the subsequent fall from cliffs, saloon balconies or the main street of an old western town. A computer program was used to select short sequences based on my lists to create two individual videos and one audio remix. The videos were projected and connected in a corner of the room. Video left the shooters, and video right the plummeting fall. A sound remix of western sound effects and background music, gunshots, the calls of falling victims enlarged the experience for the viewer. The videos and audio looped to create a different match between the shooter and the wounded for each viewing. Films included westerns from1900’s to widescreen Technicolor spectacles such as The Magnificent Seven. Viewers are confronted by the repeating gunshots, falling dead or maimed of the thousands of actors and extras who participated in these films.
Dimensions variable. Two DVD video players, two video projectors, one CD player and speakers. Two unsynchronized video films with separate unsynchronized CD audio. Video left: 5:00 minutes continuous loop; Video right: 6:00 minutes continuous loop: Audio: 4:00 minutes continuous loop.
45.5 inches X 17 3.4 inches x 13 1/4 inches
2006
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