-

I / Camera (2011)
SD colour video, sound
3 minutes 28 seconds

excerpt - full video available by request.

I / Camera (2011) video stills

I / Camera (2011) observes the technology responsible for the image. Here, the artists’ first DV camera. Cameras produce mixed feelings and responses ranging from pleasure, narcissism, performance, shyness, a sense of violation or unwelcome invasiveness. The language used around cameras is loaded, phrases such as “caught on camera”, “captured” or “shooting a film”, and sayings such as having our photograph “taken” rather than using words like “offering”, “sharing” or “participating in”.

I / Camera turns the camera on itself and holds its gaze to its own dismantling. A process which continues until the digital image physically breaks. Initially, the camera frames both the artists’ image and its own, defined by the lens quality and pixel resolution of a standard definition digital video camera circa 2001. As the video progresses, Stephanies’ gestures expose the technological innards and workings behind the image. Wires and electrical connections are cut and disconnected until eventually sound ceases and finally the camera can no longer sustain an image.