Validation and Rejection: Evolution

We are each met with many things in our daily lives, which we watch, feel, experience and critique. The shows we watch, the people we meet: this is all assessed by us as the viewer. This is key for self-maintenance; physical, emotional and intellectual validation. It allows for us to feel accepted, or to evoke change when we are challenged. This allows us to grow, to evolve. During this course, I have been able to explore this concept of validity within multiple aspects of our lives and through the use of new-media means, I have been able to challenge these aspects of our lives and those whom each effect.

My photographic works are my own pictorial brainstorm and critique a broad range of ideas regarding validity including; perception, technology, and normality within our society. By incorporating a consistent colour scheme, I was able to emphasise the sameness and relativity of each photograph, and each idea. By using green as the main hue, I connected the contents of my work to a positive colour, used as a positive in most situations. By incorporating green into the blog as a whole, I self-critiqued resulting in a positive recognition.

In all three of my videos, I experimented with music, camera angles and editing techniques.

In the first piece, I explored the various day-to-day examples of validation in my life. I recognised the sheer quantity, and decided to portray a quick but effective example; coming home to my building, and all the steps taken to get from the front door to my apartment. This short trip, which I take every day, is filled with moments where i must validate myself in order to gain access. Mechanisms, both kinetic and electronic, must be validated in order to give me access to my own space and belongings. Passwords on electronic devices work in the same way, and without these passwords and keys, I would be refused access.

In my second piece, I dealt with procrastination and self-validation as a tool of encouragement. I also emphasised the potential of never being able to escape the cycle of procrastination by re-staging the beginning of the clip. I planned the piece ahead of time, but to connect the process to the piece, I preformed, filmed and edited the piece last minute to further push this concept.

The third piece was trickier to execute. The original plan was to do a public stunt where I would create a religion and try to pass it on to those I ran into in the public space. However, due to lack of participation of the audience, the plan failed. However, after reading Objects in the Mirror... : Reflections on the Changing Contexts of Performance Art, a more conclusive idea unfolded. From the reading, performance theorist Peggy Phelan describes the concept of "redo", the re-presentation/staging of a performance. I Incorporated this concept into my piece, but with a slight twist. Instead of re-staging an existing performance, I revisited the format and structure of existing works; religious commercials/segments. I created a new, original performance by juxtaposing my original material which critiques the old with the format and structure of the past performance. I wanted to emphasize the idea of religion as being one: all true, or all false, but the same. The validity of my made up religion in contrast to all other religions is determined not by the facts, but by the number of people who believe in it. I feel that this is my most successful piece.

What is valid is determined by each individual, and each person's experiences shape this conclusion. Without validation and rejection, nothing would be forced to change, and without change we as humans can never hope to evolve, positively or negatively.

Bibliography

Eamon, Christopher. Objects in the Mirror... : Reflections on the Changing Contexts of Performance Art. Switch Magazine. 2010.