'Is Coincidence A Merry Prank By The Universe?', 2011
I was inspired to make this piece by Tom Wolfe's book, 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' and the tales of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters throughout the psychedelic era. Reading this book made me want to explore the possibilities of coincidence in my art. With coincidence came luck, probability, suspicion, paranoia, fate, deja vu, mind unity, and then the theory and psychology behind all these subjects; Dali's Paranoiac critical method, Rorschach's Blots and C. Jung's theory of Synchronicity. I decided to address all of this by attempting to subject coincidence on the viewers but whilst still referring to Wolfe's book and the coincidence that it all started from.
Whilst reading a page that was explaining a coincidence that happened to the Merry Pranksters, a coincidence occurred involving the text in the book and the music I was listening to at the time. In the book, on page 102, one of the Pranksters drew a red line on the map which just so happened to be the exact 191 mile course of which they had just drove, then on the same page, I read the words, "rear-view mirror", at the same time the words were sang on the song 'Rearveiwmirror' by Pearl Jam. So was it coincidence that a coincidence happened on a page explaining such a coincidence?
I worked out the 191 mile course through research and tried to use it as the vehicle to subject the participants with into a false sense of deja vu. I repeated the line all over the building and grounds where the installation was, in various sizes and in obscure places and even along the floor; from the entrance to the main piece. The participants may not have become aware of these indications, but would have been subjected to this repetition of form subconsciously, and when presented with the embodiment, may have felt some kind of familiarization. Then to capture the essence of the Merry Pranksters' journey and the Zeitgeist of the psychedelic era I took another aspect from the page; a Prankster ..."happens to look into the big rear-view mirror outside the bus and - the fields are - in flames :::::::: curve and curdle straight up in hideous orange flames." So this is where the mirrored glass and 'groovy' flame-like forms come from.
This installation addresses the whole meaning of coincidence and all that comes with it. If I have the intention to subject coincidence on people then is it actually coincidence? If there is fate, then is that not subjected on to people by the 'higher power'? To some coincidence is determined by their faith, some it's numbers and probability, to some it's all psychology and to some it is unexplainable. Coincidence is a completely personal concept that owes itself to the individual perception of people.
Whilst reading a page that was explaining a coincidence that happened to the Merry Pranksters, a coincidence occurred involving the text in the book and the music I was listening to at the time. In the book, on page 102, one of the Pranksters drew a red line on the map which just so happened to be the exact 191 mile course of which they had just drove, then on the same page, I read the words, "rear-view mirror", at the same time the words were sang on the song 'Rearveiwmirror' by Pearl Jam. So was it coincidence that a coincidence happened on a page explaining such a coincidence?
I worked out the 191 mile course through research and tried to use it as the vehicle to subject the participants with into a false sense of deja vu. I repeated the line all over the building and grounds where the installation was, in various sizes and in obscure places and even along the floor; from the entrance to the main piece. The participants may not have become aware of these indications, but would have been subjected to this repetition of form subconsciously, and when presented with the embodiment, may have felt some kind of familiarization. Then to capture the essence of the Merry Pranksters' journey and the Zeitgeist of the psychedelic era I took another aspect from the page; a Prankster ..."happens to look into the big rear-view mirror outside the bus and - the fields are - in flames :::::::: curve and curdle straight up in hideous orange flames." So this is where the mirrored glass and 'groovy' flame-like forms come from.
This installation addresses the whole meaning of coincidence and all that comes with it. If I have the intention to subject coincidence on people then is it actually coincidence? If there is fate, then is that not subjected on to people by the 'higher power'? To some coincidence is determined by their faith, some it's numbers and probability, to some it's all psychology and to some it is unexplainable. Coincidence is a completely personal concept that owes itself to the individual perception of people.