Watch performance art on video
Experience a humorous and entertaining time as you view a one-of-a-kind exhibition involving unusual performance art on video.
“Perform: Video Art by Rachel Merrill” is an outstanding show that teaches us not to take life too seriously and to laugh occasionally. Nobody is perfect, so embrace those quirks and flaws; everybody has them.
Self-proclaimed interdisciplinary artist Rachel Merrill says her work includes layers, meaning she hand-crafts her props and costumes. Merrill also says her poses during the show have coded meanings, such as symbols and signs related to mathematics, construction, or sports.
“My work is layered. I build my own costumes and props and use them to usually do ridiculous poses that come from pop culture,” said Merrill. “For example, I’ll do referee poses or calls, cheerleading, or something I’ve seen in the mainstream media… A lot of my work has coded meaning; I embed symbols and signs from math, construction and sports into the show.”
Merrill says the poses she makes in her videos are all based on improv. When she edits her videos, there are slip-ups that she embraces as humorous bits. She believes everyone is trying to be perfect, but that is impossible, so she accepts herself as she is.
“I perform in the style of improv; then I edit the video to embrace some of the funny parts, meaning that if I screw up, such as falling or tripping, I use that as a part of humor,” said Merrill. “It’s a fact that we are all trying to achieve perfection, but we can’t ever do that.”
Merrill explains that her videos complement photography and involve the movement of still images. She says GIFs inspired her to create the unique videos featured in the exhibition.
“The videos are twofold, one being my background in photography and the other is to make a still image move,” said Merrill. “At the beginning of this project, GIFs started becoming popular, and I liked the idea of the short, little funny things people edited.”
Editing her performances is an essential part of every project she creates because it allows her to manipulate the video’s outcome. Merrill says editing her videos symbolizes what we view in the media, as everything we see seems to be spliced together.
“I like that when you edit the videos, it’s not a live performance; it is shown on projection screens. I can manipulate the videos I create, which I think is a critique of pop culture and media because they edit and splice things together, and we judge to see if something is real,” said Merrill.
After viewing the show, Merrill wants people to interpret the meaning of the whole production in their own way.
“When you go to the show and see the stuff that I do, I hope that someone can interpret them or appreciate the objects for what they are,” said Merrill. “I’m hoping that people can access it in whatever way they want to, meaning they can appreciate the craft, the silly objects, or the technical aspects. It should be an enjoyable experience, even though it’s sort of loud and obnoxious all at the same time.”
The exhibition runs until Oct.15 in the Conkling Gallery, located on the first floor of Nelson Hall. The gallery is open every weekday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Photo Caption: “Perform: Video Art by Rachel Merrill” is a show and exhibition displayed in the Conkling Gallery that teaches the viewers not to take life too seriously and to laugh occasionally. (Matt Miller/The Reporter)
Write to Tina Dolan at dolatinaj@gmail.com