There are two videos playing at the same time. On the left is a woman walking and on the right is a video of flowers. Both videos are in slow motion; the woman is walking down the sidewalk with cars parallel parked in the city on the left. The woman is holding a flower with a long stick which seems to be hard because all of a sudden, she smashes the passenger window of a car. The woman is holding the same flower depicted in the video alongside the screen. There are people walking behind her, unfazed as to what she is doing. She is wearing an aqua flowy dress, and ruby red chunky heels, and has her hair pulled up into a classy updo. She is walking with pep to her step and a smile on her face. The side-by-side video of flowers gives off a carefree and ethereal feel. Your eyes don’t know where to look so that you don’t miss any details on either video. The woman proceeds to smash more passenger side windows of various cars, even though a police officer walks past her, salutes her with a smile, and lets her carry on with her rampage. With each window she smashes, she gains impulse and almost leaps onto the car to exert more force with the blows. The music in the video is calming and slow, but the sounds of the glass breaking interrupt the background music, causing a shocking effect. The shots of the woman vary from having the camera in front of her to a side view. Meanwhile, the shots of the flowers are erratic as the camera moves vertically (tilting), horizontally (panning), and from a wide shot to a close-up. The mirrors the unpredictable actions of the woman in the neighboring video. The vibrant colors of the flowers stand out throughout the video, depicting an array of orange, yellow and red. The video abruptly stops with no sign of an ending.
The video seems to be about someone protesting and not caring about what anyone thinks or has to say, although she seems to have approval from bystanders. Both videos show different things and can have various interpretations by themselves, but when paired together share the unifying theme of beauty and femininity. Flowers are often connected to women due to their softness, fragility and innocence. When paired with the video of the woman smashing the windows of random cars, the meaning is completely contradictory. I think that the video is trying to prove a point that women are not always dainty and delicate, and will stand up for whatever they believe in. The fact that the officer in the video is a woman, hints to a sisterhood and a mutual understanding of common beliefs between women. I think the issues it is trying to make you think about is that women will not conform to idealistic norms, no matter how much society wants us to. This urges the viewers to see women in a new way and realize that men are not the only ones who can be tough, protest, and fiercely express their opinions. The video’s imagery depicts the contradiction of being in the city and being in the countryside. This suggests that views on women can be from one end of the spectrum to the other. The woman is poised and looks very clean but is essentially performing something dangerous and rigid.
The video appeals to my senses by visually testing my ability to pay attention to two things at once. The bright colors on both sides of the screen stand out like they would in a painting or photograph. The flowers stand out from the green background on the right, along with the aqua and red that protrude from the gray cement and buildings on the left. Upon closer evaluation and further research, the woman in the video is the actual artist, Pipilotti Rist. This shows that she was able to effectively execute her idea of how exactly she wanted the video quality to turn out without having to compromise the effect she wanted to have.
This piece challenges the way we normally watch television because of the way it is presented. Generally, we watch one thing at a time but this piece is compiled of two videos simultaneously playing. They end up complement and contradict each other at the same time. The installation was shown in the art gallery between two walls, with the corner of both walls dividing the video through the middle. This exceeds the limitations of screen size that are present when watching the video on a screen as opposed to taking up the two walls from the floor to the ceiling. This makes it easier to watch each video by itself, but also aids in switching your view from one side to the other. Overall, I found this video to be the most interesting and entertaining from all of the options given for this assignment.
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