Show/Down
The departure point for this 3 part work are my memories of watching Western Films on the big screen and Western series on our small black and white TV. These films and images raise questions on how these pictures have created a collective memory and contributed to the visual mythology of the American west. For this work I reviewed 35 popular westerns movies and series and painstakingly listed moments of gun shots from men on horseback or shooting at close range to the resulting 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 had all the shooters, and video right had all the plummeting. A sound work was created by remixing western sound effects, gun shoots, the calls of falling victim and, music created to enlarge 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 include westerns from the 1900’s to the widescreen Technicolor spectacles such as The Alamo. Viewers are confronted with the repeating gunshots and falling dead or maimed of the thousands of actors and extras who participated in these films.
Two unsynchronized video films with separate unsynchronized audio.
Video left: 5:00 minutes continuous loop; Video right: 6:00 minutes continuous loop: Audio: 4:00 minutes continuous loop.
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2005. From: Afterward: The West (2004-2009) Video is parallel project with photography. |
