Intended as a performance of resistance, almost as an act of civil disobedience, I began stopping in the middle of my busy days where ever I found myself. I stood completely still and recorded my grounded feet in six minute intervals. The wind blew around me, work and workers continued with their daily tasks, the business of life continued while I watched, listened, and stood as witness.
Einstein in his publication entitled “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” used trains as metaphors to explain his theory of relativity. Wolfgang Schivelbusch also explained relativity using the experience of passengers in his writing The Railway Journey. The Industrialization of Time and Space in the 17th Century, “Early railroad travelers characterized this new technology’s effects as the elimination of time and space, and to transcend the material world all together – to become disembodied. But, disembodiment has side effects. The speed and mathematical directness with which the railroad proceeds through the terrain destroy the close relationship between the traveler and the travelled space.” Juxtaposed with Six Minutes Standing Still the triptych of videos above and entitled On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies were shot from moving trains and cars. I wanted to offer a way for the viewer to consider time experienced in constant motion. I'm also fascinated with the non-linear aspect of time. We feel it moving fast when we are busy and as adults, yet it was felt so very slowly when we were children, and can be again as adults when we are anxious for it to move along.
Video for the installation entitled Potentially Hazordous: The Road is Life
Our battered suitcases were pilled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life. ~ Jack Kerouac
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, professors work an average of 61 hours per week, I also read that the average American spends six hours and 17 minutes of time with their family a week. According to SHRM.org, this intense workload does not actually lead to higher productivity, but instead it leads to burnout, diminished job performance, and long-term health issues including anxiety and depression. Focusing on our ever moving, ever working American life, this installation is intended to express the dangers of burnout in the pursuit of Western neoliberal capitalist ideals.
Our battered suitcases were pilled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life. ~ Jack Kerouac
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, professors work an average of 61 hours per week, I also read that the average American spends six hours and 17 minutes of time with their family a week. According to SHRM.org, this intense workload does not actually lead to higher productivity, but instead it leads to burnout, diminished job performance, and long-term health issues including anxiety and depression. Focusing on our ever moving, ever working American life, this installation is intended to express the dangers of burnout in the pursuit of Western neoliberal capitalist ideals.
Meditation chimes ring out and calming scenes of oceans, boats floating by, fields and birds taking flight are shown on a billowing, cloth screen. Viewers are invited to sit on oversized bean bags and pause from the constant business of our stressful days.
For this exhibition, Pause was shown in the shooting studio outside of the gallery. Students and staff alike found their way into the room to escape and to breathe.