Project Hyperessay #1: Concept of Identity

My project will be a live perfomance of me transforming myself into different looks using make up. I would like to translate myself physically in the first space to the language of what can be done in the third space in virtual form. Taking for an example, the changing into a disguise in real time that is shown on  Grand Theft avatar.

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Changing of appearances online

I’m thinking of transforming myself to look like a boy and also after that have a 10-15 minute Q and A session with whoever comments using this “identity” that I have created using make up and then transforming myself to some one else afterwards and then having the Q and A session again.

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A preview of what I will do on my live performance

I think that performance like this plays into the portrayal of celebrity as people who tend to put a persona forward to entertain people. However with a twist as you see the process of how this “persona” is formed. The process is usually done in private and I would like to make the private process, public.

Moreover, I love that the third space allows me to explore what it means to do a live performance art from the comfort of a small space without people physically being there with me.

“The artist studio has traditionally been a finite space, defined by its physical walls, flat file cabinets, table surfaces, portfolio cases, and print racks.”- Randall Packer (2015). “Collective Narrative“.

It is great that the internet has allowed me to not limit myself to the physical world.

In addition, I would also like to explore and find out how the conversation might change depending on how I look.

“Billy Klüver regarded this phenomenon of the active participant as a liberating experience, untethered from the seat, and given mobility and choice to shape the outcome of the experience. The viewer in this sense becomes a “composer” of his or her own experience, pulling the levers (however abstract) of a work’s dynamic of interaction, which serves to heighten the experience of the in-between and its believability, breaking the now arbitrary fourth wall, to engage the viewer as an active participant.” Packer R. “Between the Real and the Virtual“,(2014) in Reportage from the Aesthetic Edge

As what Packer said I do feel that by engaging the audiences through a Q and A session, they do have the freedom and power to shape their own experience and also break the fourth wall. Thus, blurring the lines between what is real and virtual.  Through this, I would like to see how people’s treatment of me as a person changes through appearances in the third space. In addition, my own reaction to my own appearances in the third space.

3 thoughts on “Project Hyperessay #1: Concept of Identity”

  1. I like the idea of making things usually done in private, Public! Having a direct interaction with the viewers through Q & A is very effective but this provided that there are an audience in the first place. You should probably also figure out other methods to engage with the viewers.

  2. Check out https://vimeo.com/46804778. Its a very staged and dramatic scene. However, they not use the mirror not only shows the change of a persona but various personas and it narrates a phase of the person’s life – from success to failure to disaster perhaps. Perhaps, you might want to consider entering more than just persona but also time based elements that might reflect more on your own experiences through these transformations

  3. Angel, this is a great idea. What you are displaying her is a form of morphology, or morphing, from one identity to another. I think Jaysee’s idea of morphing through multiple identities is an excellent one. Looking up morphing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphing) and incorporate how you are using this idea in your project.

    I would like to see you expand the Hyperessay a bit, incorporating one or more works we have explored that might shed light on your idea. Unfortunately, the holiday eliminated our class on multiple identities, however, your discussion of blurring the line between public and private could use more elaboration, and this would give you the opportunity to discuss and contrast the works from that week: JenniCam, Life Sharing, or Tracking Transience.

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