TITLE

Occuper l'espace/Parler du langage

It really is about occuping space. And talking about language.

METATITLE

The piece still doesn't have a title. But it sure will include the prefix 'meta'.

You never know when inspiration is going to strike.

This is the metapizza, a pizza topped with mini pizzas.

Some more serious/pretentious ideas:

Metafiction

Metameme

Metatheria

Conversations about language?

KARL MARX AND GUY DEBORD

I have become increasingly intrigued by Karl Marx's writings on capitalism and his views on the relationship between mass production and mass consumption. A century after Marx's Capital, Guy Debord referenced in his book La Société du Spectacle the alienation resulting from the replacement of social life by representation.

In my piece, I would like to address a new alienation, that of the recording and mapping of identity and relationships. Starting from Marx's idea of the reproduction of commodities and Debord's view on the reproduction of society, I would like to explore the reproduction of indentity. In this new society, where individuals market themselves in search of collective approval, representations mediate interactions between people and between multiple recorded identities of a single self.

Now, the challenge is to translate those concerns and integrate them in a piece that is both demonstrative and engaging.

THEMES TO KEEP IN MIND (CONT'D)

More thoughts:

> Referencing the virtual records/memories of people, events and emotions we keep through photographs, video recordings, journal entries, etc.

> Highlighting and questioning these records' limited capacity of recreating 'the moment', by their lack of context and physicality

> Representing the metaphorical distance between reality and constructed reality, with notions of physical distance, imprecision and absence of sound

> Exploring the consequences of the shift in interpersonal communication on human relationships

MIRANDA JULY

Another interesting reference is Miranda July's Joanie 4 Jackie project. The concept of the video chainletter is just brilliant.

Like in Gillian Wearing's piece I referenced earlier, there's something about the way interpersonal communication circulates on video that makes it both more distant and more real. I will definitely investigate this paradoxical impression in my work.

JIM CAMPBELL

I'm crazy about Jim Campbell's Ambiguous Icons series, which was exhibited at the MMFA last year. Today I came across an older piece of his, entitled Memory/Recollection, which kind of relates to the piece I'm working on, both aesthetically and conceptually.

I like the way he reconstructs history through the manipulation of time. I will be working with similar intentions, but in terms of meaning and space. I also really like the look of the monitors he is using.

GILLIAN WEARING

Gillian Wearing's Confess All On Video. Don't Worry You Will Be in Disguise. Intrigued? Call Gillian Version II is great and relates to my intents. 

In my piece, the role of the mask will be played by the distance, the absence of sound and the lo-fi aesthetics.