Final Project Process 1.6

Here is a link to an excerpt from the performative action; I had issues getting it uploaded to YouTube because it keeps telling me the file is corrupt. I exported the first 30 seconds as an MP4 from After Effects: http://mbeach.me/sensors2.mp4

The performative action was ultimately realized as a switch but ideally a proximity sensor would have began the Wipeout song as I began to read from Greenberg's essay. It was my intent for the viewer to question whether what they were witnessing as far as this character embodiment of beach kitsch was actually kitsch, avant-garde, or somewhere in between. I also hoped this created space would open a conversation about kitsch versus the avant-garde and its relation to technology, having the piece use technology and kitsch as a vehicle for social engagement.

Very unfortunately, the concept was not executed the way  I would have liked and did not work. The obelisk proved to be an ill fit for the concept and there were too many references to it being a symbol of a phallus. Someone did suggest a lighthouse using LEDs and I thought this was an interesting concept. The work didn't function in the way I would have liked as far as opening a space and perhaps needs to be more performance-based. The idea of this kitsch character also needs to be pushed much farther and the link between the questioning of a work as kitsch or avant-garde needs to be more obvious rather than lying somewhere between a half-imagined work and what may be perceived as a joke entirely.