This collaborative video project is based on a short story by H.G. Wells called "The Country of the Blind"—about a man who travels to a country of blind people and attempts to dominate their sensual, feminine culture with his male, sight-derived power. Following this theme, Blind Country begins with animated fruit dancing over Mike Kelley’s body and the admonition of “Northerners” to “refill the quickly emptying sack.” In the male-dominated land of the North, candy-spurting pinatas stand as phallic symbols. Presumably castrated, and stripped of his authority, Kelley acts the buffoon as he is led through the murky land of the South, a “female,” earthy, "realm of the senses" opposing the phallocentric world of the North.
Blind Country
Ericka Beckman
1989 00:20:05 United StatesEnglishColor4:3Description
About Ericka Beckman
Ericka Beckman’s experimental films include We Intimate (1978), We Break-Up (1978), The Broken Rule (1979), Out of Hand (1981), You the Better (1983), Cinderella (1986), and Switch Center (2001). Blind Country (1989), a collaborative video project made with Mike Kelley, has games and role playing at its core. Hiatus (1999), a video, is a game construct combining animation and in-camera effects with a contemporary “strung out on the ‘net’” story. She has shown extensively in museums and festivals worldwide.