Spokesmodel
by Matt Dibble
video and sound installation
1996
Designed for 8' x 10' (wall-size) projection in a darkened room, with stereo sound.
A further elaboration of the technique
first used in Novus Ordo MCMXCIV, which was to collage together moving
pictures and sounds sampled from TV ads, and scrolling internet pages. As in the
earlier work we see the mechanised landscape, with towers, highways, and conduits
in constant motion. This time there is the introduction of the human face, built
from ads featuring cars, cosmetics, and detergents.
As in the experience of channel-hopping, one experiences
the collision of disparate symbols and confusing messages. They have been assembled
from five second recordings off the "air", and now hang together physically
and temporally, constantly looping as if in suspended animation. They coalesce
to form a master image of consensual reality, made up of many artificial bits.
The piece serves as a reminder that we make, but are
also made by, the imaginary world of the media that increasingly surrounds us.
It is an artificial world in which everything is a commodity. We grow into the
people we are because of it but can't really claim ownership of it.
EXHIBITION HISTORY:
"Artsites96", WPA/Corcoran, 1996, (Washington
D.C.'s regional biennial)
BIBLOGRAPHY:
Christopher French, (Exh. Cat.,
WASHINGTON REVIEW Artsites96 issue, April 1996) George Howell, "Artsites96",
SCULPTURE magazine, October 1996. 53.
AVAILABILITY:
As installation or videotape available through dockyard
media
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