REFLEXXXIONS
BERLIN
EIGEN + ART LAB
2019
CURATED BY ANIKA MEIER + MARIE GERBAULET
signe on Reflexxxions:
REFLEXXXIONS is about the perception of reality and the construction of the "self" in the age of hypermedia.
It's a meditation on the ways that our sense of personal identity and autonomy is easily warped through media representation and online replication. In the age of hyperreality amidst burgeoning singularity, we are able to export ourselves into various media form to be perceived and received by others. Because of this, we are constantly reflecting, refracting, and resonating into infinity, distorting our sense of lived reality and authenticity.
the exhibition features three core components:
1. photography: halo self portraits
2. liquid paintings: reflexxxions series
3. reflexxxions installation
Installation footage from Eigen + Art Lab during Berlin Art Weekend, 2019
photography: halo self portraits
digital c-print photographs + borderless steel frames
Two self-portraits are hung on the wall. I am wearing The Halo, a selfie-stick headpiece that I designed in 2015 to articulate the burgeoning intersection between online identity and physical existence. I have worn The Halo in multiple performances and exhibitions.
Left: Digital Streams of an Uploadable Consciousness. Right: Performing for a Machine , 2018
Fine Art Print on Hahnemuehle Photo Gloss Baryta, 50 x 70 cm Edition of 3
Liquid paintings:
video projections of self-portraits, beamed onto white canvas
The Liquid Paintings are a series of video projections beaming onto white canvas. For this exhibition, the Liquid Paintings are warped, moving self-portraits, which were originally photographed in the same type of reflective mylar that is hanging in the installation.
LIQUID PAINTINGS = VIDEO PROJECTED ONTO WHITE CANVAS
Anatomy of a liquid painting:
Step 1: Still image is photographed of my own warped reflexxxion using mylar in my studio
Step 2: Image is converted to be a warped video using motion graphics software
Step 3: Video is converted into a perfect loop, which is then projection mapped to a white canvas
REFLEXXXIONS INSTALLATION:
LIVE CAMERA FEED PROJECTED ONTO BACK WALL SURROUNDED BY sheets of HANGING MYLAR, bouncing refractions of light from LED SPOTLIGHTS
When the observer enters the space, they are surrounded by their own warped reflection, observed both in the camera's live-feed projection which is beaming on the wall, as well as in the warped mirror images of mylar sheets which are suspended from the ceiling.
Mylar hangs from the ceiling, reflecting LED light.
Fans are mounted in the vicinity to generate slight movement of the mylar, which creates dancing light refractions on the surrounding walls.
reflexxxions: self-portraits
REFLEXXXIONS
PRESS RELEASE (c/o EIGEN + ART LAB)
American artist Signe Pierce (* 1988, USA) describes herself as a reality artist: “I am pop and I am art. I am digital and I am physical. I am virtual and I am real”. “What is real?” is the central question that hovers throughout Pierce’s installations, photographs, performances and writings.
Throughout her work, Pierce has utilized her own life and body as a surface to be projected onto, both figuratively and literally. As a performer and self-described “reality artist”, Pierce presents a provocative, hyperreal version of herself, confronting expectations surrounding femininity, sexuality, and perception.
The short film American Reflexxx (dir. Alli Coates, 2015) documenting a social experiment that took place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is a heart wrenching technicolor spectacle that raises questions about gender stereotypes, mob mentality, and violence in America. Pierce is filmed donning a mirrored mask and neon blue mini dress as she struts down the Myrtle Beach, South Carolin boardwalk. During the course of her journey down the strip, her presence was met by an angry mob of onlookers whose savage reactions triggered an outright assault on Pierce. The angry mob sought to unmask her mirrored facade, leading to the ironic exchange in which they are faced with their own aggressive reflection.
EXHIBITION PHOTOS
Above is a studio test, shot prior to the exhibition, to determine the placement of lights + mylar. When the mylar moves, the light beams hit the reflections to create a crescendo of color refractions, blending the spectrum to open new colors beyond what is coming out of the light bulbs.