couchprojects

• description: video (2:22) Video documentation from the Apple trade show in San Francisco when they first introduced the G3.

video still

• description: Installation: HDV video projection, stereo sound
  Running time: 45 minutes

  Infinite Depot is a unique document of a space that exists in some form all over the globe. The video’s format is a 45-minute single shot HD video that takes the viewer through a Home Depot store in a fluid dream-like epic, a cinematic technique directly inspired by Aleksandr Sokurov’s “Russian Ark.” The two main characters meander through the cavernous aisles of a Home Depot store in Secaucus, New Jersey, transcending the mundane big-box environment as they slowly investigate and interact with everything but each other. In the background, shoppers zoom by at relative lightning speed, and the store displays become readymade sets. The soundtrack is a composition of recordings sampled from the store mixed to reflect the store’s multi-faceted spaces: the hugeness of some aisles and the intimacy of the showroom displays. The minimal plot culminates in an improvised dance performance by the main character. The dancer’s overstated movements fill the lighting aisles, yet go unnoticed by the Sunday morning shoppers.

screen capture

• description: Installation with web site, slide show and overhead projection

  EBay Longing is a web site interface for engaging the desire for the “Other” through objects. The site connects visitors to Afghani, Iranian, or Iraqi objects, such as coins and jewelry, which are being auctioned online. The desire for authenticity in these objects can be found in the descriptions provided by sellers. These object descriptions are juxtaposed with writings from US soldiers (and their spouses), journalists, Baghdad bloggers and classic Orientalist travelogues. The two narratives side by side reinforce the notion that wanting the Other’s shoes is different from wanting to be in them.

7-11, 2003; Digital C-Print; 20" x 30"

• description: Digital C-Prints

  This series of digital photos documents religious-themed retail outlets, abandoned convenience stores and fast food restaurants in a Texas suburb where I grew up. The compositions are symmetrical and static. With their geometrical forms and loss of signage, these structures can be viewed as modern monuments to consumerism or ruins bearing witness to a mass exodus.

Data Mining the Amazon, 2003; book (edition 500) ; 6.5″ x 9″, 60 pages

• description: Book, archival inkjet prints

  This project involved the collection and cross-referencing of a selection of Amazon.com recommendations, resulting in amusing lists of CD recommendations for political conservatives and liberals. The main section of the book is a set of colorful complex diagrams* linking politically “conservative” books with the most popular CDs bought by the same customers. This is juxtaposed with similar lists for a “liberal” audience. The final section of the book presents a direct sampling of Amazon’s “Purchase Circles” and shows items uniquely popular to the US Military, the UN, Arthur Andersen Consulting, Nike and others.