MoM Guest: Christine Elise Chen

Andrew here: I definitely need a day off, and my friend in NY Christine is working on a super interesting project at the moment. I asked if she'd share what it's all about and she went and made a video! (below the text) Anyone who likes max patches/female empowerment should get a kick out of this.

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So basically this video is just a video of my max patch running (not the most interesting thing in the world to watch if you’re not trying to learn max).

Here’s a pic of the sensors that I’m using to trigger files at random from three separate banks of sound files:

                                                                                                                                              

And a stupid-grainy close up of my Arduino:

Each sensor is attached to a different object—a Barbie (with flex sensor), a Bible (with motion sensor), and a Vanity (with motion sensor). The overlap of sounds that you hear in the patch video is actually not totally representative of the sound design of the piece. In the final version of this piece there will be a performative element—I have a narrative of gestures/actions/events that I will perform. These include cutting Barbie’s hair, reading from the bible, putting on makeup, and cutting my own hair (if I have the balls!) As I move from station to station, the sounds that will be heard will be only sounds attached to that individual station.

There will also be a projected video component—a four channel surveillance-style live feed with close video of each object station and one wide angle camera.

Basically this piece is about girlhood and how fucked up it is. My basic thesis is that through commercials, toys marketed toward girls, and religion, we as a society actively groom girls to be pleasing objects for men. And this piece couldn’t exist without Freud, that fucker. The way girls are encouraged to interact with their fathers provides a nice fucked up model of how they’ll be encouraged to interact with their sexual partners later in life. The “good girl,” obedient, slender, pleasant to look at and hear, feminine, innocent yet sexual, normative, a pleasing object in appearance, personality, interests, etc. is a commodity and narrative that was actively marketed to me throughout my childhood. The big question then is this: do I actually want to be a “good girl” and do I even have any choice in the matter?

Nice cheerful thoughts for your day.

Christine's website