- In one of the first museum visits we had, Anri Sala used juxtaposition of close-ups and long shots to evoke the feeling of tension by contrasting intimacy and distance. Although you said that you actually have a distant relationship with your cat, I see you using the juxtaposition of imagery technique which helped portray a closeness and tension with your cat. Why and how does that function in your work?
I think this technique aided my video by not making it seem like I was just following the cat around the backyard. This technique adds an extra layer of an onion to peel because it’s a subtle thing to pay attention to. The tension and closeness displayed in my video was unintentional but I think it works in light of creating a “relationship” between myself and the cat even though I am not present in the video. In a sense, I was trying to portray the relationship between me and the cat even though the emotions that came through weren’t the emotions I had expected to depict.
2. We are all making work in the context of a long and varied history of video art and media culture. I see a connection between your work and William Wegman’s video art “Two Dogs and a Ball” (from 50 Great Works of Video Art) because your video depicted your cat but not what he was watching, just as his video depicted two dogs but not what they were watching. What do you think video art is trying to portray by letting us watch the “watcher” but not what the “watcher” is watching?
I think it leaves some room for mystery. In the video “Two Dogs and a Ball,” the video may have lost some of its charm if you saw what was holding the dog’s attention. I feel as though the attention would shift from the dog, which is supposed to be the main focus, to the object they are watching because naturally our eyes follow movement when staring at something especially if there isn’t much action going on in the rest of the video.
Wegman Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxsypEOXpik&index=23&list=PLS0lgBa37-ngw2YYgT0q0eZVcCJoVm0AK
3. What kind of closeness did you create with your cat by filming him? How is this closeness different from directly interacting with him?
Not noticing it until I saw it on the computer during class, I realized that there were moments when I felt that the cat and I had more intimate moments. I think this happened because behind the camera, I was less afraid of him. I would focus on the cat on the screen of the video camera rather than the cat in person (with exception when he would abruptly turn around and get too close). I never intentionally go extremely close to the cat due to my fear and my allergies. I think if the video showed myself interacting with the cat, it may have seemed more like a home video.