“Marchioness de Sad” Crit Show
If there's one thing I’ve learned in my BA and MA it's how to be resourceful because things don’t always go right. Well, if it’s my work it cannot go “wrong” per se as I am the creator and therefore only I can say whether it filled my mental image of the work. Of course, it lies with others to connect it to their own point of view and decide if the work is successful but once I put my work out there, its reading is out of my control. In a way, I enjoy this as someone else could see something within my work that I’d never considered before which could lead to something else in the future. For a morning pop up crit, I wanted to show Marchioness de Sad (further known as “MdS”). Rather than on a small transportable screen on my audience phone (connecting to the idea of unsolicited Instagram messages and the endless scroll of junk mail from strangers), I wanted to test it as a large projection (the thought being that the audience would be unable to escape the small text messages that are in fact part of a bigger problem of online harassment and sexism that’s hidden behind the anonymity of a screen). That being said I didn’t leave enough time to hire out the projector so the night beforehand in (i didn't realise there was a 48hr hire wait before collection) I printed off the images that made up the video, in order to show them as a pile of posters. Seeing the images and messages live would give a real sensation of the volume of the messages as well as give the audience time to stop, read, digest and react to the exact words that were being shown rather than flicking past them quickly as a bunch of pixels. Both presentations have their pros and cons in regard to comprehension and reaction.
An overall view of my work aims to show the extent and almost normalcy that is online harassment and rude comments. I understand the content is not for everyone although it is a personal story relating to my experience and therefore I don’t feel the need to censor myself. It wouldnt be a true representation, nor a far discussion if half the information is missing.
As suggested by Alan McKee and Rebecca Sullivan “The range of pornographic materials that is now easily accessible to a computer user is indeed much wider than has been the case at any time in the past – but what are consumers actually looking at?” Perhaps this is why I feel MdS works a lot better on a screen-type presentation than the paper installation I had to play with. Additionally, the idea of Rule 34 (‘If it exists, there is porn of it’ (Urban Dictionary 2006)), enables erotica and pornographic material to expand far quicker than that of the pages of a book. Pornography on the Internet is certainly more ‘diverse’ and ‘eclectic than a magazine or DVD pornography (Jacobs 2007, 16) 2.
The Crit:
The title of the pop-up crit was “Over The Line”, a concept I thought matched well with the audacity of the messages I was receiving as a cosplayer (and a pretty PG cosplayer compared to what can be found). Applied to the wall as mini-posters in a haphazard map, some adhered with a dot of glue in each corner and others just in the top two corners. With the breeze in the gallery space, some notes fluttered and eventually fell off the wall. This was annoying at first but as I got feedback and topics got heavier it was almost as if the topic itself was pulling the images down - like an invisible depression or force. One person compared the pages to the petals on the Beauty and Beast’s rose - when the final rose well, that was it, the persona/self-confidence/self-preservation and perhaps ultimately her will, was dead. I enjoyed the poetic licence of that, it was as if the work was self-performing for me. There was still the opportunity to watch the video online, although it would be on the audience's phone to carry with them, rather than a singular screen, which would have played with the personal message, Instagram format and endless scrolling of the intended view. Connecting this to contemporary work, it reminded me in a way of Félix González-Torres work called “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) which is composed entirely of hard candy. The viewer is invited to take a piece, yet the pile never seems to shrink. Whose job is it to refill the pile every day, and where do they get that delicious, wrapped candy?—B.M., Northbrook. 3 This connection isn’t because of the romance and representation Torres has in his work, but rather the continuous neverending pile of messages that people are free to take away with them as they fall, not in person, but on their phone, in their own inboxes.
What I found surprising during the feedback was how offended the rest of my classmates were on my behalf. I had explained that I found humour in the behaviour as well as the fact it was online and therefore, in a way to distance myself perhaps, consider the comments directed towards my pixel self, rather than my real self. That is to say, these commenters do not know me (and never will), only a pixel image they like the look of. It would be completely different if these comments were made to my face, although at that point they would have broken the hide of animosity and the safety shield that comes with that. I have almost always had this response to online messages although connecting it to artists I have researched recently Aury (Pauline Reage) considered herself bisexual and admitted her preference for the female body. Describing her first real-life exposure to male anatomy, she said, “I found that stiffly saluting member, of which he was so proud, rather frightening, and to tell the truth I found his pride slightly comical. I thought that that must be embarrassing for him and thought how much more pleasant it was to be a girl. That, by the way, is an opinion I still hold today.”4 I feel many can relate to the idea of misplaced pride (especially when it comes to unsolicited dick pics) one might have with their form. I understand body positivity and being happy with your body but unless someone asks to see, it's safer and less humiliating for you to assume they DON’T want to see it. Two wrongs don’t make a right, although when presented with an unwanted phallus face I often respond with the “microscope” emoji or the “ruler” and “pinch” emoji. I’ve found images work a lot better than text when it comes to communication, after all, they didn’t listen to the “no thank you” so emojis are far more fun to use.
What was also a strange situation, was that I found myself almost defending the commenters as well as myself to ensure them that A) I was not truly offended, merely entertained in a sad way and B) I had not made an attempt to “invite” these messages and simply reacted to them once they had arrived.
Pornography: Structures, agency and performance - Alan McKee, Rebecca Sullivan- 2015 https://www.academia.edu/40781911/Pornography_Structures_agency_and_performance?email_work_card=view-paper
Jacobs, K. (2007) Netporn: DIY Web Culture and Sexual Politics. Rowman &Littlefield Publishers, Inc., New York
https://www.timeout.com/chicago/things-to-do/art-institute-candy-sculpture-whats-up-with-that
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