Three Stages of Consciousness
Performative and site-specific Installation at Ostlicht Galerie für Fotografie Vienna, 2012
The focus of my work lies in the relationships between the body and spaces and in the use of media for reflecting on the production and representation of art.
In Three Stages of Consciousness, the first stage stands for the process of self-representation through photography. The shot takes place during the night when I stage a figure trapped in a persistent situation of production. The self-timer and the noise of the shutter are used to guide my steps captured in 16 frames of a single film. Only one photograph is chosen to be exalted: enlarged and displayed at the art space it reinforces the idea of fetishism and consumption in society.
The second stage represents my attempt of breaking the auratic aspect of the chosen photograph through its large reproduction. In this stage I make thousands of copies out of low-cost method such as Xeroxing and fold them as flyers.
The third stage occurs during the entire period of one night when I repeatedly pile the copies in concrete accompanied only by a surveillance camera. The sculpture and the video remain for public display. Moreover, they expose a failure of the second stage: the copies prevented from distribution or public access, are instead used for building the sculpture in the site of the gallery, where the aura is restored.
Three Stages of Consciousness reinforces the dialectic between creating and transforming, hiding and revealing not only the content of the works produced, but also the role of the artist and the function of spaces.
In Three Stages of Consciousness, the first stage stands for the process of self-representation through photography. The shot takes place during the night when I stage a figure trapped in a persistent situation of production. The self-timer and the noise of the shutter are used to guide my steps captured in 16 frames of a single film. Only one photograph is chosen to be exalted: enlarged and displayed at the art space it reinforces the idea of fetishism and consumption in society.
The second stage represents my attempt of breaking the auratic aspect of the chosen photograph through its large reproduction. In this stage I make thousands of copies out of low-cost method such as Xeroxing and fold them as flyers.
The third stage occurs during the entire period of one night when I repeatedly pile the copies in concrete accompanied only by a surveillance camera. The sculpture and the video remain for public display. Moreover, they expose a failure of the second stage: the copies prevented from distribution or public access, are instead used for building the sculpture in the site of the gallery, where the aura is restored.
Three Stages of Consciousness reinforces the dialectic between creating and transforming, hiding and revealing not only the content of the works produced, but also the role of the artist and the function of spaces.
Pictures of performance by Ana Paula Franco
Installation view © Getty Images
