Mike's World Orientation Video

2007, 7 min, color, sound

Mike's World Orientation Video was created as an introduction to the retrospective exhibition Mike's World: Michael Smith & Joshua White (and other collaborators), which opened at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas in 2007 and traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia in 2008. This short video, designed to suggest the kind of orientation video that one might find at a presidential library, reprises the story of "Mike," Smith's hapless Everyman alter ego. A deadpan compendium of footage featuring Mike over the years, culled from Smith's videos, installations and performances, Mike's World guides the viewer into an insular "Mike space" of equal parts failure and hope.

Directed by Michael Smith and Joshua White. Writer: Leslie Fuller. Editing/Motion Graphics: Bill Haddad, Blue House Design. Narration: Ray Murphy. Audio Post-Production: Ray Murphy, Blue House Design. Commissioned by The Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin.