(CHECK BACK VIDEO WILL BE UPLOADED SOON)
Performance Relic
1996-1997
twelve frames of video, edited onto a single channel
engraved plexiglas box
12 VHS tapes with the origin footage
Twelve frames of women on television play simultaneously, with a soundtrack comprised of 10 minutes of soundbites from each frame. The visuals and sound are meticulously edited, providing a comprehensive examination of television’s representation of the female gender. This piece contrasts movies and shows from each decade of television’s existence, with shows contemporary to the 1990’s changing perspectives on gender roles, as well as radical Bay Area public access programing. Television’s impact on the subconscious mind, in regards to gender is on full display.
Also on display, are the twelve VHS tapes on which the origin material was collected by Clark. These are encased in an engraved plexiglass box. They frame as part of the piece, the artist’s obsessive collecting of the footage as well as the fact that due to the illness Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, she was too debilitated at the time to engage in much else. The artist refers to this piece as a performance relic. Twelve years later in 2009, Clark had finally recovered her health enough to edit and thus finish 12 Frames of Isolation the way she had always planned it to be. At this time she also furthered this vein of inquiry in her work with performance/video pieces Butterfly’s Shoe Fetish (2010) and her Look Book series, from 2011-2012.
