The Art in Miami students of the FIU Honors College assisted artist Jen Clay in the her performance “The Chase” at her 2023 exhibition “Eyes of the Skin” at the Locust Projects.
(Students must be present from 6:00-9:00 PM. Students must give us their shirt sizes)
PERFORMANCE: THE CHASE
LOCUST PROJECTS
SATURDAY 21 OCTOBER 2023, 7:00-8:30 PM
The Art in Miami students of the FIU Honors College will participate at the runners in Jen Clay’s “The Chase.” Inspired by Scooby doo monster chase scenes, The Chase is a performance where a group of people is slowly chased by two ambiguous forms with a live soundscape by Elise Anderson to represent being constantly chased by the alien inside that, to Jen Clay, is anxiety, depression, and mental illness. Runner groups will be sought out to participate in this “fun run” that will encircle the street outside of Locust Projects.
EYES OF THE SKIN
LOCUST PROJECTS
NEWLY COMMISSIONED INSTALLATION AND INTERACTIVE VIDEO GAME BY MIAMI-BASED ARTIST JEN CLAY
Locust Projects presents Eyes of the Skin, an installation and interactive video game created by Miami-based artist Jen Clay in which viewers can explore a dense, alien-like forest inhabited by monsters. Primarily known for textiles sculptures and performances, Clay spent months quilting tree-monsters, which she then photographed, montaged and animated to create the first video game made entirely of quilts. In keeping with Locust Projects’ mission to provide artists with opportunities to experiment and create new work, the artist delved into learning how to translate her aesthetic digitally using video game technology. The exhibition, which Clay has made to be sensory inclusive, opens for public viewing on Saturday, September 16 with a public artist talk and celebratory reception on Saturday, September 23, 2023 from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Eyes of the Skin is supported in part by a Knight Arts New Work Grant by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Conceived as a visual novel, Clay’s video game is the first chapter in what will become a long visual novel, one inspired by the popular children’s book series Choose Your Own Adventure. Influenced by the theoretical framework of Cosmic Pessimism, a pop culture philosophy of horror, Clay’s monsters are a hybrid of alien and natural forms whose pastel palette and cushioned fabric surfaces distract from an existence that is indifferent and even menacing to human exceptionalism.
Within a decision tree coding structure, player’s avatars can choose from a list of prompts to each manipulative encounter with the trees, who communicate via text on screen. The monsters’ choppy movements recall nineties’ video games and children’s shows. The game’s title refers to Juhani Pallsamaa’s book Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, an architectural theory classic that advocates trusting one’s senses. This nearly therapeutic philosophy echoes positive self-talk Clay adopted as a child who hallucinated monsters. Her work represents that experience and the work of managing it. Clay’s work also helps viewers who have not had this experience to empathize with this condition of near constant uncertainty. Of course, as more and more monsters prove themselves to be all too real, she lets us widen our acceptance, in her work’s soft cuddly embrace, of all that might be.
LOCUST PROJECTS
297 NE 67TH ST
MIAMI, FL 33138
https://www.locustprojects.org/#close
EDITOR & LAST UPDATE
John William Bailly 10 January 2023
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