May 5th - June 9th
Created for the “Shame Shouldn't be a Symptom” group exhibition, Magically Imbalanced (,) Hyperlink Dollhouse (aka HDMI) is a “living” 6 Episode VR series synthesizing interviews with real people living with varying mental health issues processed through sci-fi/fantasy hybrid genre.
The following was released as an audio guide alongside the piece-
“I would love to formally invite you to my very first virtually interactive, web based, hyperlink dollhouse.
Please join me in an endeavor to provide a playful opportunity to combat stigma against atypical mental health. Using audio from conversations with other individuals who live with varying mental health issues, my goal is to share often undiscussed oral histories. In offering the viewer information that can only be accessed by means of willing engagement, I hope to facilitate dialogue about stigma, rather than provide direct answers.
Aesthetically and symbolically the piece will take the form of a campy and uncanny household in an alternate liminal reality lying between shame and acceptance. With subversion at its core, this art work takes on Camp’s history of personifying and villainizing mental illness for empty shock value and vapid storytelling. Crafting moments of uncertainty through jarringly mixing elements of hyperrealism into this fantastical low poly play set, audio interviews from people living with mental health issues animate the multidimensional sculptural menagerie, chaotically decorating the dollhouse.
In addition, the space will hold a durational virtual performance that will function as a conjuration of rumination. Shared between varying forms of mental illness, rumination can be described as finding yourself stuck on a thought or issue, unable to move forward for an extended period of time. Within one of these bedrooms I will take on the most terrifying form of interactive entertainment: karaoke.
I invite you to participate along side me as I ask/sing What is Love? By Hadaway until I tire from mental/physical exhaustion.”
