Redressing Down

Redressing Down

Tony Conrad
1988, 18:52 min, color, sound

Description

"The sexual economy of television space. In the body of television, the audience is objectified as furnishings for architectural and social spaces of the protagonist. The commodification of television space inverts the sexual distance between the violated (consumed) body of the subject and the (nonpresent) viewer. Redressing Down uses the distance between the body and architectural/environmental space as a metaphor for the relationship between maker and viewer. It invokes the body in relation to personal living space, in that personal space constructs an essential site for mediated social activity. A series of vignettes, each of which grips the viewer in a setting of psychic expectancy, constructs a psychological and cultural 'virtual reality'—each viewer’s feedback into the tapes is his or her own theatrical construction of the tape’s events." —Tony Conrad

Thanks to Chris Hall, Armin Heurich, Hallwalls Video Production Jam, CEPA Gallery; Post-Production - Hallwalla Contemporary Arts Center; Cited: Jacob Abbot - Gentle Measures in the Training of the Young (Harper, 1871), Yi-Fu Tuan - Segmented Worlds and Self (Minnesota, 1982), House Beautiful (March 1988); Music of Cheb Khaled from Hada Raykoum (Triple Earth 102)