Can You Direct Me, Please
Moving Images
Duration: 29:24, 29:24, 29:24, 29:24
2021
The inability to accept the detachment of my mind from other leaves my body directionless, influenced by Lacan’s theory:
But of course this is impossible, because that lack, or absence, the sense of “other”ness, is the condition for the body becoming a self/subject, a functioning cultural being.[1]
The constant failure of daily tasks shows the constant desire of getting directed in Can You Direct Me, Please, a series of moving images. The blue-green tone is inspired by Wong Kar-wai’s films, which conveys the negative and uncomfortable emotions.The repetition of the sound in the moving images adds the effect of annoyance, frustration, and anxiety. It also shows the passage of time. There is no end of the action because I just want to show the moment of the state of being stuck or trapped while the body just cannot let it go, which further suggests its restlessness and the desire to be directed. It is mentioned in a group tutorial that the body was felt like a robot, not being able to operate or recognize to be a person in the world. It is where this work is successful because it is what I want to express. The body is without mind, and it relies on other to direct it. The condition that I cannot accept the disconnection from other who my mind is attached to disables the functionality of myself as a cultural being in the world.
[1] Mary Klages, “Jacques Lacan,” (Lecture Notes, University of Colorado).