Olivia Ross’s video “me doing my #gothexercises in my room”
I am impressed by the visual aspects of this project – Ross was able to create watery, transparent, and distorted imagery with what appears to be images of flowers. The imagery in the video seems simple but feels familiar and meaningful to me (the compressed quality of the audio adds to this feeling). In the video is a faint silhouette of the artist dancing to the song “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush. Self-portraits or selfies are a common visual element in the artist’s work – she claims and embraces her digital image. In a world where large tech companies design their programs and products to create behavioral addictions in people who use those programs and products, Olivia uses her work to help people develop a positive relationship with technology.
I don’t know how long it took the artist to create this work but she made the piece when she was a student at the School for Poetic Computation. Her work was edited with C++, using the graphics toolkit OpenFrameworks. The artist’s early works comprise of many slitscan self-portraits, which coud’ve been inspired by artists Andrew Davidhazy and George Silk. From a technical standpoint, I do not know what opportunities or futures the project points at; however, I think Olivia’s emphasis on awareness, accessibility, and health/enjoyment in regards to relationships with technology is really important now and in an increasingly technological future.
