Testosterone Paradise is a systematically rotating video installation, wherein the 4 main characters- action heroes Bruce Lee, Jaa Panom, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Stallone are paired off together as if in the boxing ring. But the fight is a verbal one, as all the actual physical fighting from the original action films are cut out, leaving only shouting, moaning and “power” screeches between the two confronting screens.
The viewer is straddled in between a clashing of two larger than life-size bickering characters that sound at times more like an obnoxious nagging housewife than the super world-saving heroes they are portrayed as in their films.
Here physical aggression is manipulated into mental
aggression, much like the mental warfare of a chess game. But the mental version is neither better nor loftier than its physical counterpart. The result is just absurd, and the constant shouting and verbal spats are like repetitively banging your head against the wall over and over again.
Conflict works on many levels, whether it’s within one person, between two individuals, or even two countries. The pairing of Bruce Lee and Sylvester Stallone could, for example, also allude to the struggle between America and China to be the superpower of the world.
Short video documentation of the installation 'Welcome to Your Mind' created as part of a group exhibition for ArtAids Foundation, Netherlands. The installation consisted of darkened passageways through which the audience had to pass, and a primitive sort of 'earthquake simulator'.
Motors, corrugated metal, wood.
More images/documentation: uraniansatellite.blogspot.com
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