Digital Performance (2012)
Face in Flux is a live digital performance exploring the layers we apply to ourselves and how we present ourselves to the world. Through the familiar ritual of applying a full face of makeup, the performer gradually transforms their appearance while live video captures fragments of each gesture and feeds them into a looping projection. As the makeup builds, so do the layers of video, creating a shifting image that moves between the face beneath and the persona being constructed. Sound is built up in the same way, with each stage of the makeup routine adds another layer of sound and image, gradually building into an increasingly complex and chaotic mix.
Blending live action, video manipulation and experimental sound, Face in Flux explores repetition, layering and transformation. It draws on the everyday routines we follow, considering how these repeated actions become patterns and how the layers we construct can influence the way we see ourselves and how others see us.
Face in Flux explores algorithmic pattern-making through the repetition and accumulation of simple actions. The ritual of applying makeup follows a recognisable sequence, but each layer builds upon the last, transforming both the face and the projected image in increasingly complex and unpredictable ways. Live video looping creates patterns from fragments of movement, while a audio looping and effects build a corresponding soundscape. The performance explores the dialogue between human gesture, technological processes. It also considers pattern as a culturally embedded practice: the daily rituals through which we construct, negotiate and perform identity. By bringing together the familiar, tactile act of applying makeup with digital image manipulation and live sound, the work connects everyday pattern-making with contemporary algorithmic art.
Trace video of the projected video output:
PAST SHOWINGS
51zero Festival
Oct 2012
Rochester Visitor Centre
51zero Voyager - Whitstable Biennale
Sat 2nd June 2018
Film Screening on the beach