Here I will be explaining the parts that compose the project "The Cage" :
- Video 1
- Video 2
- Sound
- The masks
- The Cage installation
and the different elements of each.
Video 1:
Video 1 portaits the feminine and sensual side of Medea.
Video 1 - Element 1:
For the making of video 1 I collaborated with a peer, Iulia Maracine, who created and performed
a choreographic piece.
Iulia performed the choreography twice with a different energy each time.
One is calm, graceful and at a constant, stable rythm...
...while the other is a distorted version the first one, the movements become more aggrsive and the rythm gradually increases.
Both performances were filmed with the use of a green screen.
Video 1 - Element 2 :
An eye was painted on the performers eyelid and then the blinking of the eye was filmed to create a play/illusion between the actual eye and the painted one.
The face painting was created by another peer, Pierre-Marie Laurent.
The painted eye was inspired by the eyes of female mythical creatures and godesses as they are depicted in ancient Greek murals.
Video 1 - Element 3:
Close-ups of female body parts performing small, sublte movements.
Special attention was given to the body line, the muscles and bones of the body, expressing the female sexuality, tension and pain.
Video 2:
Video 2 portaits Medea's darker thoughts and aims to create images that symbolise death, chaos and
distortion of innocence and motherhood.
Video 2 - Element 1:
The cutting through a lightbox.
For the making of Video 2, I built a very easy and cheap lightbox, using a shoe box and transit paper.
Using a knife dipped in red food coloring liquid I cut through the lightbox several times to represent the murdering
of Medea's children by their own mother.
The camera was covered with cling film to be protected from red paint dripping while filming.
Footage of red coloring drops on the camera lense were used as well in the final video product.
Red colour in this scenario it symbolises very clearly death and the act of murder.
I specifically chose red food colouring liquid instead a simple red paint, because of its use in element 2 of video 2.
Video 2 - Element 2:
The Milk Experiment.
Liquids like water and milk have a property known as surface tension, due to the cohesive forces of the liquid's molecules.
The surface tension of the water is actually pulling the water away from its container inward toward the center of the surface.
Soap is able to reduce this surface tension.
Food coloring liquid is less dense than milk, so a drop of it floats on the surface.
A drop of soap reduces the surface tension of the milk by dissolving the fat molecules.
The surface of the milk outside the soap drop has a higher surface tension, so it pulls the surface away from that spot.
The food coloring moves with the surface, streaming away from the soap drop, creating beautiful movements and shapes.
As mentrioned above, the red color is a representative of death and the act of murder and milk functions as a symbol of motherhood.
In combination, the two materials create an irony between something that is esseantial for children's growth and is provided to them by their mother's body, and a symbol of their murder by their own mother.
The two elements of Video 2 were edited together using Adobe Premier Pro CC.
Sound:
The audio of the installation was split in the right and left stereo channels:
- The audio sample playing from the right stero channel included 12 different female voices (like the 12 women of the greek chorus in Medea) reading almost simultaneously different extracts of Heiner Müller's "Medeamaterial", a monologue of the character of Medea.
- The audio sample playing from the left stereo channel included a sound created by moving a metal plate under running water, creating a constant deep buzzing sound expressing mental agony and pain.
Masks:
Two masks were placed on the two sides of the cage, which each of them the audience can see
one video repsectively.
Mask 1:
Looking through the eyes of this mask the audience would be able to see video 1.
This mask was inspired by and based directly on a sentence of Heiner Müller's "Medeaplay":
"The Act of Killing. The woman takes off her face, rips up the child, and hurls the parts in the direction of the man"
This mask was inspired by and based directly on a sentence of Heiner Müller's "Medeaplay":
"The Act of Killing. The woman takes off her face, rips up the child, and hurls the parts in the direction of the man"
This mask represents a face with the skin ripped off. Some pieces of skin are hanging of it and pieces of bones are piercing through the flesh. The three doll arms gripping the face represent Medea's three children.
Mask 2:
Looking through the eyes of this mask the audience would be able to see video 2.
This mask was inspired by and based on two extracts of Heiner Müller's "Medeaplay":
- "...she laughs without a sound"
- "...she laughs without a sound"
- "The Sexual Act. The male death masks tie the hands of the bride to the bed with the shreds of the wedding dress,
and the female masks her feet."
The aesthetics of this mask represent an extravagant beauty. The face is covered with decorative elements and in the place of the mouth a rich an long veil comes out that unfolds to the ground.
The cage construction:
The installation was a cage made of metal wire painted red.
On the one side it was closed, while the other side bursted and the metal wire was spreaded against the wall.
From the inside the cage was covered with transit paper, so that the audience would be forced to look through the masks to watch the videos playing inside the cage.
For the sound, two small headphones were placed on top of tha cage , one on the left and one on the right.
Thank you! :)