Brand Spanking New Media: HW7.2.2 Video Artist Research: Andrea Fraser

I saw Andrea Fraser's piece, Projection, two years ago at the Tate Modern museum. I thought it was an intriguing use of video because it obliged the audience to participate in the work without their explicit knowledge. Projection consists of two screens on either side of a dark room, on which videos of the artist are projected. Fraser is shown sitting in a chair, looking directing at the camera, and talking. Only one screen is active at a time while Fraser is shown taking part in a one sided dialogue based on transcripts of real psychotherapy consultations. She takes on the role of both a therapist and a patient. After she is shown asking questions and writing down notes as a therapist on one screen, she appears as a patient giving answers to a seemingly different set of questions on the other screen. During this process, the audience is standing between the two screens, changing their orientation as the work moves from one screen to the other, mentally trying to connect the two sets of videos, and being directly addressed by both characters so that they also become the therapist and the patient.