Video art explores feelings of incompleteness, lifelessness, and otherness. The absence of some fundamental component that everyone else possesses. Stuffed animals mimic and attempt to integrate into the society of real animals. But no matter how externally similar they are, in essence, they are aliens.
video clips
Static plush toys reflect the desire to conform to the expectations of society, a group, or interpersonal relationships, respectively—to repeat the patterns of one’s environment.
In each video, one of several potential reactions to an outsider is shown: pigeons are indifferent, squirrels reject and fear, while the cat accepts and loves. Similarly, a person craving recognition seeks their place through imitation but can never predict the world’s response.
The project could have been realized in an exhibition display as three synchronous projections. They place the viewer at a disorienting intersection of worlds, where scattered attention reveals the impossibility of fully engaging with any one of them. In this composite reality, the visitor finds themselves as alien as the plush characters on the screens.
Mockup