Push Pull

The installation Push Pull consists of three custom-made wooden chairs with steel armatures holding video monitors.  The monitors, enclosed in steel boxes with a screen size of 7", transmit three different aspects of an activity:  a woman pushing silver pins into herself.  The subject is dressed formally in a dark blue evening gown with long white gloves.  Within the three aligned chairs the central image represents the foundation of the activity: putting on the gloves, striking a pose, and pulling off the gloves.  One of the side monitors exposes an undisturbed documentation of the complete performance; the subject places ten pins into the right ankle and left ankle, then ten into the right knee and left knee, and then ten pins into the right shoulder and left shoulder.  The other side monitor is an edited composition of close up images.  The audio component consists of four mixed channels.  One channel is a female voice holding her breath, and a second channel is the same voice repeatedly “hushing”.  The third channel is a fabricated puncturing sound, and the fourth channel consists of directional dance cues from ‘Betty White's how to: Waltz, Fox Trot, Lindy, Tango, and Cha Cha Cha’.

Three channel video, wooden chairs, steel, monitors, decks, amplifier, speakers, 55” x 103” x 37”, 26 minutes, 1996