Chris's Weird Science Page

"Between what we dream and what we believe"

In Wierd Science we are all encouraged to experiment. Trying something new is integral to the success of each student in the class. Coming from an advertising background, everything about this course was new to me. This was both terrifying and titilating at the same time. As you've seen, for my first two projects I chose to present my iideas using film so for my 3rd and final project I wanted to take a risk. Luciana had done some extrodinary work in previous projects with projections. She explored gender, culture and social norms by including the class in her beautiful projection projects. I knew that if i wanted to do something so unique, so different and out of my comfort zone, then she would be the one to work with.

Luciana and I met and discussed several options as to what we could do. We came upon an idea that explored both unique presentation styles and deep subject matter. In order to do so however, a great deal of time, effort and patience were needed. We decided to have a simple conversation. A man and a woman, two lovers, talking about themselves, their relationship and how they came to be where they are. What made this project unique is how the conversation was to take place.

(The setup)

(Luciana and I taking our positions)

(The performance starts)

Luciana and I decided that we would complicate our simple conversation. Set in a coffee shop, we would be sitting in chairs diagonal to eachother. We both wore oval screens over our faces so that the projected image of the other persons face could be seen on each others bodies. When this scenario was set up, we simultaneously played the short clips below. Luciana's head projected atop my body, and my head projected atop hers.

In doing so, we physically questioned our selves, gender roles, and cultural norms. How different are we? Luciana being from Brazil and I from America; her being a woman and me being a man. We tried to show that there may be just as many similarities as there are differences. This project was a challenge both in labor and in spirit, but I can honestly say that it's one of the more fullfilling things that I've done in my time as a student.