Seismic Shift is an interactive installation using video documentation of its video elements. I had never used found footage in my work before, but I was compelled to make a piece that directed attention to the struggle for change represented by the national Occupy movement, seen through social media and through the eyes of protestors on the ground.
In Seismic Shift I incorporated familiar YouTube videos captured by Occupy protestors, revealing fellow protestors sustaining injuries at the hands of police while risking their well-being to express frustration with the status quo.
The viewer initially sees a trompe-l’œil fire burning in a hearth. As they approach, footage from Occupy Wall Street appears in the fire—shouting, screaming, and images of violence and police brutality. The footage eventually fades, revealing the fire once again. A different video is triggered each time someone approaches. The work contrasts the darker side of human nature revealed in this brutality with the comfort and lull of the familiar.
The piece was installed at Aggregate Space in Oakland for the exhibition Ostranenie (January 2012), and at Currents New Media Festival in Santa Fe (June 2012).
Found footage sources included the following videos: