human resources

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On my way to today's performance I was thinking about work of Sophie Calle and Laurel Nakadate, two female artist whose work I am fascinated by. Although lately I have come to be questioning their use of contributors: people willing to partake in the making of the project in case of Laurel by direct invite and prior consent,  however in most cases uninvited, pried on by Sophie.

Similarly in my own work I find the issue being blurry: two holla hooping girls i videotaped in new orleans,  and used in video Elsewhere, are beautiful and arguably their public perfomance was up for grabs, but who am I to decide?


For today's sunday session at V-dome PS1, Laurel had invited public to sign up to confess -- it could be anything, she said, you get my DVD as a reward she said, backpedalling immediately to acknowledge the proposition as questionable intensive: she can be an artist through you, the public, she admitted, so you can watch her DVD by partaking, potentially -- exposing yourself.


Since this is America predictably most of the shared stories were of lighthearted irony and humor with a few presented as questionably "edgy" touches of animal cruelty in the mix, and then one disturbing self hate speech at the end ... Mixed feelings.


I thought of this idea once, and Laurel reasons were -- to share and feel a sense of relief, compassion, unburdening  together being part of this imperfect world, which is a good starting point.. However -- how to execute it, in order to avoid abusing artist-subject relationship to own advantage, specifically now, in the age of internet, when the history remains beyond the erasable quality of past ways of communication? The question of utilizing others' personal lives in the context has become increasingly loaded with subjects such as confession: a person may be going through a rough patch, or wanting to be part of something, which at a later date may be harmful, if not simply no longer appealing. I do not know what kid of arrangements where made for the option of revokal of the statements and rights for publicizing this project behind the scenes, but it is something that in my opinion should have never been, and especially now -- can no longer remain spontaneous, un-considered with a trail of www and video debris following us every step of the way..

Our job as artist as I see it -- is to leave a trace of today in an way of enigmatic  mirroring, shifting the focus, zooming in,  depicting the thinking of a certain time, and what people say now -- will remain as a slice of history, so it is an importan task, albeit a sensitive one.


Most interesting to me where the confessions from two people who spoke of relocation and immigration, one girl confessing to have married for greencard "so she can live her american dream" (simple and irreverent) , second of the guy having left his country and feeling both disconnected and guilty for abandoning his origins, not contributing to the changes in his own country ( 100% can relate to the feeling)...


The last confession, of self-hater, an ex stand-up comedian, in spiral to self-loathing and sense of worthlessness, was destabilizing, I looked away. and when i looked up he was staring straight at me, his eye seemed feverish, then he said thank you and left the stage. for a second i though it was an act. it could have been. something dark had to happen or else it would have been a bit of a fluffy evening.. was it real?  how will he feel when time passes and this artifact remains?



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