Dinner

ARTIST STATEMENT My interests lie predominantly in the observation of feelings through aesthetic objects. My work has always incorporated the artistry of sound and moving images. Sound is always my focal point in exploring new worlds in video art but I also believe in the power of crafting elaborate interior spaces that invite the audience to fully immerse themselves in this dimension I’ve created. It is in my hopes that viewers will be able to detach themselves from their reality and reattach themselves, emotionally, to this new world I’ve conjured. “Dinner” “ Dinner ” is a conceptual performance video inspired by a moment in the film, “Silence of the lambs ” where an officer (Judy Foster) experiences a mental breakdown during a conversation with Hannibal Lecter. This 3-minute conversation consists of Lecter asking several questions relating to the officer's childhood, forcing her to re-explore her terrifying memories in an attempt to control her mind. The video begins with a classical music prelude, lulling the audience into an atmosphere of calmness whilst watching my separation of the skinless chicken, stripping it down piece by piece. The audience is expected to slowly fall into a state of gradual excitement and anticipation for not knowing what may happen next. A visceral sense of foreboding will give way to horror when at the end, I show a group of chickens surrounded by television sets that all broadcast the same video of me slicing off the chicken’s skin and cooking it. It is at this moment where I intentionally raise questions to the audience. “If the chickens are the audience and I am the performer-- Then who are you supposed to be?” Or “Who are we in this scenario? Are we the chicken, or are we the consumer of the chicken?” My project is based on the topic of loneliness, something that I find is a widespread theme in today’s capitalistic world-- so driven by labour production. The mechanical preparation of the chicken is analogous to today’s machines that are only capable of abiding instructions) but lack creativity and emotional connection. Thus, creating an isolating disparity between one other. The capitalistic companies are the ones who eat the chicken. This cycle of capitalism is re-emphasized near the end. Productions of TV commercials generate income, while simultaneously, producing a large group of standardized people under capitalism. Besides normalizing job types in markets, capitalist companies also find ways to standardize the minds of people in daily life, before and after work. Thus, the culture of capitalism begins to function like an industry, in which all forms of culture, from literature to restaurant music, become a part of the mode of production. Capitalists, specifically the bourgeoisie, incorporating forces of producing commodities in every industry, as well as products that encourage conformity (like, social media, internet, or advertising) and labour becomes the exchange value in the market, which is measured in terms of money.