Reup/Cocktail/Overdose #1, Single Channel Video, TRT 3:00, 2009
The series consists of using segments of pharmaceutical commercials acquired from various online sources, and in colliding images and sound together, into hyper-kinetic films in which the ads overlap, fade in and out, juxtapose, into a blurry space of overdose, of a drug cocktail gone wrong (or right), into spaces of multiplicity producing intoxication and psychotropic simulation.
Unlike some of the other videos I have done, in which the clips are isolated, in a more "concrete" poetic kind of deployment, these videos are cocktails, the clips smashed and overlayed together into a blurry, chemical, psychotropic mess.
"Re-up" combines the street usage of "re-up," meaning to get more drugs, to reup a dealer's stash, and the official medical usage of reuptake, as in SSRIs.
The video should ideally be projected on a wall and played at very high volume; but it can also be seen on a monitor or online format as well.
Side Effects, Single Channel Video, TRT 10:04, 2005/2009
Isolating the listing of side effects from a variety of appropriated pharmaceutical commercials produces a dizzying and at times nauseating procession of symptoms and ailments.
This video is part of a series using found pharmaceutical commercials, collected from online archives and sources. The commercials have been viewed, analyzed, and chopped up, the bits categorized into like phrases and imagery. FDA regulations require certain structural elements in each ad, such as listing side effects, but the format and language is remarkably consistent, a basic structure and system of phrases is used in every commercial.
The video is ideally to be played on a television monitor to simulate the original site of the commercials; but projection is a possibility. It should be played at extremely high volume so as to suffuse the space with the listing of side effects.
This is an updated version of a piece originally done in 2005, with new commercials added.
Ask Your Doctor, Single Channel Video, TRT 2:35, 2005/2009
This video is part of a series using found pharmaceutical commercials, collected from online archives and sources. The commercials have been viewed, analyzed, and chopped up, the bits categorized into like phrases and imagery. FDA regulations require certain structural elements in each ad, such as listing side effects, but the format and language is remarkably consistent, a basic structure and system of phrases is used in every commercial.
"Ask Your Doctor" is a curious phrase, simultaneously a directive and yet one that inverts responsibility from the authority of the medical/scientific side to the patient/consumer. This phrase appears repeatedly in these ads.
The video is ideally to be played on a television monitor to simulate the original site of the commercials; but projection is a possibility. It should be played at extremely high volume so as to suffuse the space with the listing of side effects.
This is an updated version of a piece originally done in 2005, with new commercials added.