couchprojects

Workstation collage for standee
8′ x 4′ x 2′

• description: These free-standing cutouts represent my studio. The collages are a combination of images from my wok area and photos collected online from computer enthusiasts showing off their gear.

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• description: Social networking web site

  Myfrienemies is a social networking site where anonymous users are connected to others who share dislikes of the same or similar types of people. Rather than create profile pages, visitors to the site can create anonymous lists of personal friend-enemies (frienemies) through detailed descriptions (testimonials) and labels (ex: cheaters, drunks, liars). Other people on the site can offer advice and commiserate with the anonymous testimonioals. If people dislike the same person, they can send personal messages to each other. To avoid inflammatory behavior, the site is programmed so that proper names are never revealed and bullying is disouraged. Myfrienemies aims to foster new friendships that are more similar to the bonds we make in a closed setting such as the office or academic environment; places where groups of disparate people find a common bond in their shared annoyance with a particular colleague.

  www.myfrienemies.com

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• 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.

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• 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.

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Video (8:26)

Protect Yourself… is a compilation of online marketing materials from armored car manufacturers. In addition to undercover ballistic tests, the video collages industry interviews, auto shows and marketing propaganda in a form that transforms a corporate trade video into an action-packed thriller (minus Chuck Norris). The video is punctuated by humorous vignettes of evasive industry reps obsessed with corporate secrecy. This stands in stark contrast to the copious online materials showcasing vehicular violence.

• description: Video (8:26)

  Protect Yourself... is a compilation of online marketing materials from armored car manufacturers. In addition to undercover ballistic tests, the video collages industry interviews, auto shows and marketing propaganda in a form that transforms a corporate trade video into an action-packed thriller (minus Chuck Norris). The video is punctuated by humorous vignettes of evasive industry reps obsessed with corporate secrecy. This stands in stark contrast to the copious online materials showcasing vehicular violence.

View from entry, video monitor with video of Beijing model making factory and foot massage demonstrations

• description: One-day installation at ESL Projects in Los Angeles

  Using real estate marketing materials collected in Beijing, Fatty Duck transformed the droll, contemporary practice of high-end real estate development into a romantic, deconstructed homage to mid-century Communist dramas of urban progress.

  The small storefront was filled with a variety of images and videos. The video in the front of the store faded between scenes from an architecture model-making factory and a taxi ride on the chaotic streets of Beijing. Displayed on the interior wall, enlarged Xeroxes of the model-making factory’s models in-progress provided a metaphorical representation of the high velocity of new building developments. The other elements of the exhibition documented model home interiors that promote specific westernized lifestyles ranging from SoHo city-dweller to Long Island suburbanite. An architectural fly-through was projected on the back wall. The original source was collected from a development called "Home of Tycoons." This served as the title for the catalogue I created to supplement the exhibition.