Thank U, Text
Exhibited at SEVENTH Gallery, 2019
Two large screens are suspended at hip-height, facing one another, to resemble two people in bed looking into each other's eyes. In this video performance, I repeatedly attempted to break up with myself, using as my script, messages constructed with a text prediction app. The words take on the familiar tone and structure of break up texts, though meaning is constantly warped and deferred. The algorithm hasn't learned to anticipate language sequences for the ends of relationships, but sometimes unwittingly, new poetic possibilities for expressing sadness emerge.
"Hey Roslyn, I realised today that it has been six months since we moved in with each other and the internet connection was established. I want to break up with you and immaterial processes that simulate nature. I just bought horse shampoo and I'm not sure if it is healthy to continue like this. I'll miss you heaps and heaps especially in the morning when I make coffee and sit in the short break of life."
