2005 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal

Abstract

The Story of Jennifer and Kevin McCoy is an on-going project in which we restage scenes from our lives as they intersect media and culture. The pieces consist of miniature film sets, dozens of live miniature cameras with computerized switches, and video projection. For our fellowship period, we intend to develop site-specific installations as part of this series of works. To date, we have completed stand-alone sculptures using a similar form and one site-specific work that has ignited our interest. This piece is installed at JFK's Terminal 5 and uses the architecture of the space as a backdrop for our miniature scenes. In new site-specific sculptures, we intend to research and develop strategies for the wireless transmission of images across farther distances, enabling the scattering of the fragmentary physical scenarios across larger and more unorthodox exhibition venues. In our proposed project, we will miniaturize narrative fragments, some from our lives and some from fictional scenarios. These parts are crosscut and interwoven to create a highly mediated form of autobiography in which our personal mythologies are made indistinguishable from our experience as spectators of media. Formally, we are interested in the difference between the three dimensional unrealistic space of the models and the realistic simulation the computers and cameras can create. Motors are also used in this work to further the sense of cinematic illusion.