Event Blog 2: This is the End by Ed Atkins, Loretta Fahrenholz, & Tommy Hartung

           Last weekend I visited the This is the End exhibit which showed Even Pricks, a film by Ed Atkins at the Hammer Museum. Just like my previous visit it was quite interesting and gave me an experience that was slightly uncomfortable for a time. The room was a large enough room to fit 20 to 30 people sitting down, but the only seats were two oversized beanbag chairs pushed against the wall opposite the screen where the film played on a loop. There was one other person in the room when I entered and they left shortly after I arrived. I stayed to watch the whole film from beginning to end. It was an odd feeling to be watching the film, by myself. Although I enjoyed it, it was a different kind of enjoyment and appreciation that came from having this new and strange experience all on my own in a large empty room. 

            The film itself showed many computer-generated images that began suddenly and stopped just as abruptly. One image that reoccurred was a hand sticking out its thumb. The thumb pointed up and down and poked parts of a body which was annoying and seemed very invasive to me. There was an audio track that was almost anxiety inducing because of incessant clapping done by one person and it had a sharp, slapping quality and it felt like a metronome, but was in the background throughout the film even when there was a speaking monkey, which was cut off in the middle of a word at one point, and what seemed like the trailer for a bad action movie. Some parts of the film where predictable, but others were unexpected and left me wondering how he came up with the whole concept.

            This film reminded me of Neuroscience and art because of the depressive and anxious feeling I had while watching and later thinking about it. This was a strong piece of art work because even as I am recalling all the details I am writing about its making me feel a bit unsettled and anxious. Even though the overall feel was not something I seek out on a daily basis, I thought many of the images used, if alone, would have a completely different evocation, so this work is inspiring in the way it provokes emotion and thought in a different way than I have seen before.  

 

Works Cited:

Atkins, Ed. Even Pricks. Digital image. Hammer Museum: This is the End. 10 Jan. 2015. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2015/hammer-projects-this-is-the-end/>.

Ellegood, Anne; Moshayedi, Aram; Subotnick, Ali. "Hammer Projects: This is the End." The Hammer Museum. The Regents of the University of California, 7 Mar. 2015. 

Wilde, Cathy. Neuroscience study points to possible use of medical marijuana for depression. Digital image. Medical Xpress. 5 Feb. 2015. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-02-neuroscience-medical-marijuana-depression.html>.