The Digital Cliff
Artists: Nadia Belerique (TO), Marie-Michelle Deschamps (MTL), Stephanie Hier (NYC) and Erin Baillie-Rutter (MTL)
Exhibition: November 12 to December 17, 2016
Organized by: CK2
Installation views: Jean-Michael Seminaro
The following is a theoretical proposition:
Two persons are conversing in the middle of an unrealistically large room, narrow too, let’s say 1km by 1 m. Crazy narrow. Now, imagine that as they are speaking, they begin to back away from each other. They are making their dissimilar beliefs/values physically manifest through the space they are perpetuating between each other - person A encumbered by the incalculable, invisible weight of emotional labour, and B not only unencumbered by this, but disbelieving of its existence, as it is, as mentioned, not tangible, and if person B cannot see it, person B refuses to believe it (‘Show me the money!’ person B yells, gesticulating their arms wildly with a slap-happy smile plastered on their face). They continue talking, the volume of their voices fading proportionately to the distance between them, until –
Person A is cut off, completely, person A has dipped off the cliff, and to person B they’re mute and silly-looking, eyes full of feeling and mouth moving madly, emitting no sound, just useless, just aggravating the jawbone, just plain sad. Person A must still succumb to the insidiously violent words of B, so person A begins inching the walls, in an attempt to get away from the noise. A magnet holds A and B equally apart, and neither can gain more distance from the other. The backing away is slow, like the torturous drip of the bathroom tap.
And, suddenly, A and B are yoyo’ed back together. The process begins again.
Therefore, there is no follow-up question for the proposition, nor, of course, any answer. Merely dissatisfaction.
And so they dance, forever.
Nuances develop, but the situation remains the same. Tuned in, tuned out.
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Press (exhibition)
Art Viewer: http://artviewer.org/ck2-at-projet-pangee/