On Magic: Effecting a Split & On Not Seeing
Effecting a Split borrows the transformation of Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde and places it against a staged magic illusion that requires identical actors to perform a transportation, representing a self that is divided first inwardly and then outwardly. My interests in misdirection and visual cognition come into the project as the two scenes are placed in tandem and projected adjacent to each other in non-analogous takes.
On Not Seeing is a set of sculptures, each based on an object whose function relies on what is seen and what is hidden from view. Through a process-led intervention, I reveal the inner workings of the objects and, therefore, render them inoperative—transforming the objects into inert subjects of inquiry. Black Box Theory is modeled off of a theoretical diagram utilized in Behaviorism. Black Box Theory postulates that the mind is unknowable, therefore the only way to study the mind is to observe responses to stimuli. All that can be studied is what can be directly seen, the input and output, but not the mechanism that produces the result.
Magic Ball & Vase is based upon a mass-produced magic trick. The trick purports to make a ball disappear from within a vase with a lid. The supposed disappearance is not performed sleight of hand, but instead part of the object itself. Here my interest lies in exposing the interior workings of the apparatus.