Irma's first draft text on Method
An important element of my artistic strategy involves the chain connection within individual works, I have the feeling everything is connected within the themes a want to communicate in. Although all these works communicate within the audio and visual field, I don't want to limit myself to a technique, the technique is only a tool for the communication, the works should be about the themes a want to bring across to the audience. The style of communication depends on the goal of the work. Short movies, installations or fictional companies, they make a comeback in other works. So many of the works I developed, stand on their own but also function as a "filmprop" in another movie. With this text, I want to find the structure and words to the describe what the connection is between the works from the past, the future and external input from books, essays, articles, documentaries or quotes. I want to guide you trough all these elements that belong together in my mindmaps, what binds them and what is my purpose of creating them.
To understand my proposal for this new project I would like to guide you trough my earlier work which is part of this chain.
Just Jake is a short movie which introduces us the lives of two characters Jean and Jake Stewart, husband and wife who have spent all their lives together. Jean has found her calling as a popular lifestyle guru who inspires her followers on a daily base with her youtube tutorials and self-help books. Her motto is 'Just Jean! And that is good enough!' Her husband Jake is a supporting man, although he lost he lost his job he tries to stay relevant by helping his wife whenever he can. However, his help is often unnoticed or unappreciated by his wife. One day an email from FORTUNEWOOD arrives in Jake’s inbox, it takes him trough their website where they seduce him to scan his fingerprint to get a personal counseling feedback. Jake can't refuse. This short message kicks off his imagination, could this offer the answers that he has been searching for?
The installation called FORTUNEWOOD invites a person to stand under a soundtube that hangs on a black tripod. As they arrive at this spot they see a video on a small screen, hearing voices of famous film characters who seduce them to push the button on the touchscreen. This action scans their fingerprint, which offers them a short personal mentoring advice presented by a famous movie star. At the moment I'm developing a short fake porn movie, with a twist The video is filmed in an amateurism style, the audience experiences the story from a point of view shot of a male character. The film plays with the cliché elements of a cheap porn movie where the girl next door is observed by her neighbour's camera. She is wearing nothing but a towel when she is hanging about in her kitchen. The man finds a way to break in her house (you don't have to explain much in the storyline of a porn) when there is an interaction with the two persons the hand of the men pulls the towel off her body and discovers a transparent part of her. (see pictures http://irma-paperwork.com/porn.html) Technically this could be complicated, I will make some tests before working with the actors to be aware of all the practical problems which Barend can help me with. When all the troubleshooting is done, I have the opportunity to use this great apartment in Amsterdam, I'm researching which active I would like and could use since I want to present her as a real porn model, it could be a lot to ask a friend. One option is to look for a nude model online or play the role myself. Although I don't prefer this as it gives a conceptual layer to the work that it is a personal statement, this is not the case.
For starters, I like to present the movie as a real porn movie on a platform of amateur porn websites, I'm curious what the reactions are from people on the hunt for a porn but getting an artistic film. Secondly, I would also like to use this video as a film prop in another short movie, based on an angry white man, this character gets confronted with the fake porn while he was longing for some relaxation. At the moment I'm still developing the script for this Angry Men movie. Important factor should be that the audience needs to feel sympathy for the angry way he expresses himself. I can imagine it would be a short film from about 10 min.
Placing the works of the past and the future on one page I would say that playing with expectations is an important element within the works. I like to research the target audience, what are the looking for? What do they expect? I try to analyze the language of the medium and communicate in the same style.
Another theme in my work is the longing for an answer from a "bigger" other that could offer you a guideline in life. Being responsible for your own choices is hard, the feeling that someone or thing knows what is "best" or has an overview of a "bigger" plan is comforting. I think I can add this more within the script of my angry man film, this could be something political like Trump or Wilders, although I think it could be deeper than this.
My research at the moment goes towards the personal development and presentation of an individual. The creation of a public persona. I'm fascinated by the quote 'Be the director of your own life!' Could it not be easier to just be the director and let someone else be the main character? I've just been reading some essays written by Connie Palmen based on this subject, she researched the theory and destiny of Socrates in one of her early works, recently she continued her work on the subject comparing famous characters, such as Marlyn Monroe, who developed her public persona. I'm collecting examples, but also researching the roles of spin-doctors, which brings me to Edward Bernays. Then the way of interpretation is very relevant to research, how does the human brain deals with information? I hope to learn more about this subject by reading theories of Deleuze and Dick Swaab.