Doug Aitken or "More Real Than Reality"

At the time I finish this post, I will have been conscious for 42 hours straight. Enough said.

I was writing college essays at some point between Friday Morning and Saturday morning. One of the essays wanted me to describe why I was interested in the particular program I was applying to, which happened to be a Design/Media Arts program. I began writing and putting down my ideas about film, new media forms, and the collision of both in today's modern society. I also talked about the evolution of my interest in the program. I stated that I wanted to study something with an emphasis in film, but I also wanted to expand my knowledge base to other media forms. I felt that true film wasn't exactly what I wanted, that it was too rigid in its form. Then I took a step back, so to speak, and thought, "Man, who's going to believe this?"

The answer: Doug Aitken

It turns out that Doug Aitken and I share much of the same sensibilities about film in the digital age. Mr. Aitken, however, is being applauded by Film and Art circles alike. I am not, and that's fine. Many believe that Aitken is single handedly reinventing the concept of "video art." His works have adapted to our modern age while causing us to focus on the future. Pieces such as "Interiors" challenge our perceptions of inside and out by playing images of "industrial" interiors on silk screens. These images overlap one another forming new images of our contemporary world.

And if you think that's something, Doug Aitken's exhibition "Sleepwalkers" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York promises to blow your mind. No, really. It's going to blow your mind. Like, you'll be walking along and you'll feel a pop in the back of you head and you'll look down and your brain will be at your feet, running around, because it just got blown.

What this exhibition consists of is five films projected on the walls of of the Museum of Modern Art at night. Each film is follows the night time adventures of five city inhabitants as they make their way through the evening. Passers by should be able to see this exhibition as the woalk down the street, and, being the city's denizens of the night, actually complete the piece. Because...you see...it's like they're watching themselves to know what they are doing. But what's on the screen isn't actually what they're doing, because they're watching the screen. It's a paradox. Look it up.

So there you have it. One of the leaders in American video art is making waves in the big city. I highly suggest you check it out. I certainly will. Right after I take this nap.

duchamp