REHEARSALS VIDEO SERIES 2010-2011

Topics such as failed relationships, the politics of STD tests and manipulative directors are each tackled in this whimsical series of durational performance videos. Jennifer Sullivan plays the tormented subject. Coy and insatiable, she is caught in her own mirror reflection, yet she knows how to laugh back at it. The format pays homage to early structural video works including Richard Serra’s “Boomerang”, by revealing the limits of structuralism. Looking, reviewing, listening, listening again, allow the viewer to be completely enveloped by Jennifer's powerful voice.

In “This is the Place”, the performative gesture and the cinematic gaze are refracted both within the transparent colors and the actresses’s looping voice. The actress repeats the line “Is this the place where I am silent and you listen?” continually, reaching out to an imagined other, and merging with her own double. Through repetition, and subtle shifts in color, movement and composition, narrative gestures emerge out of minimalist abstraction. The piece hi-lights the power of persona and the unique voice of this talented artist, as she is caught in a series of static, faux-cinematic looks.



POSITIVE/NEGATIVE, 3 min, 2010
Starring: Jennifer Sullivan

In, “Positive/Negative,” the discourse of daily affirmations is crossed with clinical safe-sex lingo as the character appears in a split-screen, repeating the phrases “I tested Positive/I tested Negative.” The repetition of this line, removed from narrative context, emphasizes the paradox of language, contrasted to the visceral emotion in the character’s voice. This work pays homage to the language of structuralist video, as well as the banal and existential questions that might arise in the doctor’s office.

NEWS:
POSITIVE/NEGATIVE (3 MIN, 2010)
VIDEO FEATURE ON ART FAG CITY BLOG
READ THE REVIEW BY DAVE HARPER!
ART FAG CITY ARTICLE