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Modus Operandi, 2012

Maculinity and it's Discontents

Modus Operandi is a simultaneous three channel video projection of three Machinima films with a contemporary dance narrative complimenting the video narrative. The improvised dance performance is modeled off the game physics of the male avatars actions on screen and will involve one to three pairs of dancers in the space during the opening and then at a reduced rate over the course of the next three weeks. The floor is demarcated by a series of geometric taped off shapes which mirror the virtual caged off space that the male avatars reside within.

3 Channel video projection with in situ body acts.

An outline of the ideas that inform the exhibition, abridged version

The exhibition uses a quasi-scientific and detective like approach to capture information gleaned from online social media networks that form a series of soundtracks and voice over's that explore contemporary notions of masculinity. The three machinima films projected in the space use these soundtracks as a series of monologues matched to the image of my recorded game play using the Xbox video game called the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Within the game, I use the men to hug, squeeze and slow dance with one another as they methodically shuffle around their practice arena, which subverts the game physics and the virtual violence it promotes. This subversion uses a non-violent way to approach the masculine body which contradicts the reality of the UFC's body that is subjected to pain, domination and one's mastery over the other.

This virtual violence and the subversion taking place on the gallery walls is further complicated by a series of live dances taking place within the gallery inside a taped off limit on the floor, mirroring the virtual arena the caged male avatars find themselves in. Like Contemporary Dance with its techniques and methods found in many different disciplines such as ballet, modern dance and postmodern dance while also drawing from other philosophies of movement that are outside the realm of classical dance technique, UFC combines many of the same strategies and methods that Contemporary Dance does by combining different styles, philosophies and choreographic elements from inside traditional forms of boxing and wrestling, while looking outside itself to a non-western philosophical understanding of the body in motion by incorporating eastern martial arts practices such as Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and Karate.

The ideological problem with games like UFC is that their "game physics are not neutral representations, virtual space and our play within it, is an extension of an external reality that both shape our performance within the game and our relationship to our environment outside the game". The question that the work proposes is what effect do games and violence have on our understanding of masculinity and who determines these positions within culture?

Within this proposed new work and my previous body of work, I am concerned with how these virtual and real environments shift cultural and political understandings of our physical and psychological selves. My work often results in long term performances, computer game design, hardware modifications, sound and sculptural works, site-specific installations, painting, machinima, film and video art. Within my diverse, artistic universe I try to expand preconceived notions of narrative and documentary by using autobiography, architectural simulations, pop music, fiction and fantasy to explore how technology redefines and influences our subjectivity through its pervasive use.

Chris Howlett