HAUNTED BODY -

HAUNTED HOUSE

CLICK ON PICTURES ABOVE TO SEE ROOMS OF THE HOUSE.

HAUNTED BODY HAUNTED HOUSE is an immersive video art installation that reappropriates the concept of the haunted house, both operatively and thematically, to explore themes surrounding the role of media in socializing gender and the resultant politicization and commodification of feminine and transgender bodies. The installation spans multiple themed-rooms that borrow elements from commercial haunted houses such as emphasis on set construction, use of evocative lighting, and the building of suspense. The commercial haunted house draws inspiration from the haunted house media trope, in which someone’s home is taken over by outside entities. The person’s home begins as a space that is their own and then transforms into a space of horror that they cannot escape. If our bodies are our home, then our bodies are haunted. If our bodies are haunted, do others haunt our body or do we haunt our bodies?

Why do we see the ghosts as haunting the house, when the people are the ones attempting to exert their control over the house and ultimately eradicate its long-term tenant, the ghost whose very survival hinges on being able to exist within the house? The instinctual urge to resolve the haunted body is through attempting to escape, but since we cannot escape the installation offers an alternative - a reclamation through connection and community. The final room is not one that is haunted, but an event space that signifies a collective rebirth through creative expression, dance, and performance - where we can both celebrate differences and see how we are more similar than different. Building solidarity between oppressed identities and allied support, the healing between the groups and healing of oneself with their body marks both an exit to the haunted house and new beginning within our home.

VIDEO GIRL

Features footage filmed in the Haunted Body -Haunted House installation, overlayed the dancing ghost of the video girl. She is both stuck within this event/performance and has her image produced and reproduced within the media devices featured. 

 

HAUNTED BODY-HAUNTED HOUSE  

HAUNTED BODY - HAUNTED HOUSE is an immersive video art installation that reappropriates the concept of the haunted house, both operatively and thematically, to explore themes surrounding the role of media in socializing gender and the resultant politicization and commodification of feminine and transgender bodies. The installation spans multiple themed-rooms that borrow elements from commercial haunted houses such as emphasis on set construction, use of evocative lighting, and the building of suspense. The commercial haunted house draws inspiration from the haunted house media trope, in which someone’s home is taken over by outside entities. The person’s home begins as a space that is their own and then transforms into a space of horror that they cannot escape. If our bodies are our home, then our bodies are haunted. If our bodies are haunted, do others haunt our body or do we haunt our bodies?

Why do we see the ghosts as haunting the house, when the people are the ones attempting to exert their control over the house and ultimately eradicate its long-term tenant, the ghost whose very survival hinges on being able to exist within the house? The instinctual urge to resolve the haunted body is through attempting to escape, but since we cannot escape the installation offers an alternative - a reclamation through connection and community. The final room is not one that is haunted, but an event space that signifies a collective rebirth through creative expression, dance, and performance - where we can both celebrate differences and see how we are more similar than different. Building solidarity between oppressed identities and allied support, the healing between the groups and healing of oneself with their body marks both an exit to the haunted house and new beginning within our home.

FEATURED VIDEO: VIDEO GIRL

Features footage filmed in the Haunted Body -Haunted House installation, overlayed the dancing ghost of the video girl. She is both stuck within this event/performance and has her image produced and reproduced within the media devices featured. 

SEE ROOMS OF THE HAUNTED HOUSE BELOW: 
CABARET
CHILD'S ROOM
MIRROR ROOM 
REBIRTH