Mother of Vinegar
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
The Mother of Vinegar video was created through my manipulation of a stationary camera that was simultaneously projected during the performance and footage shot by filmmaker Christopher Mcdonald. In using this method we are able to create a nuance film of the performance rather than a static documentation.
The use of multiple cameras helps to create a dynamic and immersive viewing experience. The intent is for a remote audience to feel as though they are in the midst of the performance, rather than simply observing it from a distance. The edit of Mother Vinegar and the use of closeups conveys emotion and mood.
Vangrin's own practice straddles and conflates live art and recorded digital work, it's worth questioning strictly hierarchical relationships between 'original' and 'documentation'. In Mechtild Widrich's recently published book, Performative Monuments: The Rematerialisation of Public Art, she makes the case for performance as a kind of social monument that persists throughout history precisely through its documentation. Widrich approaches this idea, via Robert Musil, through the German word for monument, 'dennkmal', which translates more literally to a 'mark for thinking'. "After the 'precarious', 'ephemeral' exhibition has ended," she states, "there remain individuals who remember having participated in or encountered the work, and documents and artifacts that recorded its presence." [7] And these, she furthermore claims, "partake in the creation and maintenance of its social goals".- Kyra Kordoski
