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The Hunch that Caused the Winning Streak and Fought the Doldrums Mightily

Stephanie Barber

2010 00:02:05 United StatesEnglishColorStereo4:3DV video
Tags:
Middle East, Music, Photography

Description

The interior was delusional like any visual psyche. The couches and plants, rugs and paintings were all in cahoots and up in arms over the cahootery. The explorers were under-qualified and cowardly.

These interiors — the photos hung on the walls, the furniture and rugs, houseplants and televisions — are collaged from photos of various domestic items from Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian homes brought together to suggest one continuous home. I'm interested in the tension between the visible and the invisible cultural markers represented here. The British parade matted into the televisions, the Japanese musician and Ethiopian music exaggerate this collision.

— Stephanie Barber

Originally created for Milwaukee International with The Suburban's exquisite corpse video for the "No Soul For Sale" show at the Tate Modern.

About Stephanie Barber

Stephanie Barber is an American writer and artist. She has created a poetic, conceptual and philosophical body of work in a variety of media. Many of her videos are concerned with the content, musicality and experiential qualities of language. They ferry viewers through philosophical inquiry with the unexpected oars of play, emotionalism, story, and humor. Many balance several seemingly unrelated concepts––subtly suggesting or brazenly demanding a focused and imaginative reception. Many create gently complex, emotional studies. Others are funny; a sorrowful sort of funny. There are videos of obsessive observing and ambient sounds; small artificial fireworks, animals, and silence. They are tightly wound, dense, and light simultaneously.

Barber's films and videos have has been screened nationally and internationally in solo and group shows at MOMA, NY, The Tate Modern, London; The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; The Paris Cinematheque; The Walker Art Center, MN; MOCA Los Angeles, The Wexner Center for Art, OH, among other galleries, museums and festivals. Her essays, stories and poems have been published in books, magazines and online journals.