Art/Life Blog

Seeing Things, 1992

May 2, 2022

Seeing Things, 1992, was part of my final MFA show at Concordia University. The piece was later shown at La Central/Powerhouse.

The work is made out of four elements: a 16 mm projector, and a 16mm film on a loop, the actual projected image on a wall and the presence of an industrial fan turned on. The projector and the fan’s noise are part of the installation. The fan is on looking at the back of the projector and blowing into the projected image.
The Bourget Building where the MFA program was housed at the time had left over old objects around the studios, and the fans were some of them. This is a large industrial standing metal fan with a diameter of approximate 30 inches.

With the help of another student in the program, EA, I had shot a black and white, short 16mm film of myself, just the eyes, blinking as if something was disturbing my vision.

I am particularly fond of this piece as it navigates absence and presence, reality and illusion, fiction and representation.
The eyes are reacting to an exterior force that is taking place in a different time and space.