NONSELF
June 2019 | Launch on the Jeu de Paume “Espace Virtuel” | Paris, France
September 17th, 2019 | live performance event By John Sanborn at the Musée Jeu de Paume
A conventional self-portrait is a depiction of an artist that is written, drawn, painted, photographed, recorded, or sculpted by that artist. The process of presenting a version of self, expresses what IS –reflected by disambiguated reality – transformed by intent and technique.Our definition of negative is emptiness or a void – but as with music or design, the inverse proves the positive. One cannot know joy without pain. By creating NONSELF – I offer evidence of consciousness, constructed from the negative space that surrounds me. It’s easy to state what IS – but the impression made from what IS NOT speaks to what is “not me” as well as our current understanding of “truth”.While I find inspiration in examining myself (“me”), a more motivating and productive strategy is to search outside “me”; into the diverse and complex set of morals and consequences that are “not me”.By embracing all I am not, my awareness of “me” expands and mutates –insisting that I develop and extend my artistic goals to enrich my voice and myself. In this way “not me” – the unexplored space that silhouettes my identified consciousness – is an enhanced way to adjudicate a portrait of who I am and how I got here.This is a personal attitude that has political implications – and a political tactic with intimately personal impact.
NONSELF is comprised of a series of short videos each of which uses “not me” attributes, attitudes and perspectives to create an inverted image. They are not lectures or prose, but elusive moments and fleeting feelings captured in video and woven together by audience interaction. If the viewer does nothing, the videos play in a mix of pre-programmed “random” order. When they interact, they build their own version of NONSELF – so close to nonsense but honest.
John Sanborn : Postcards from Post-America à la Galerie TOKONOMA
rounded with a sleep 