And in Conclusion
24- channel video and sound installation
We’re all here by a quirk of nature, and not forever.
Life is a like a party and parties weren’t meant to last.
Entropy will always win.
Humans are an infection inflicted on this planet. Our life cycle is short so we do what we do – we make a mess. We’re told how to take care of ourselves but we do what we want. It’s clear we’re wrecking our ecosystem, but we charge unheedingly ahead. We either don’t listen or just don’t care. So, we die.
Age has revealed evolution to be a conjectural cadence I don’t understand. The rhythms and pleasures of recursion, segmented as they are into tones and attitudes, have become an idea of time - as opposed to an experience of time.
All my friends are dying. The planet is wounded, and soon will be inhabitable.
Which suggests that we are projecting our own mortality onto the earth. Credibly, this is inevitable and unavoidable. The end of the precarious balance between humanity and nature is like the loss of a mind. The end of humans on earth and the end of my life might be tied together in a dance macabre – a ritual of co-dependency whose climax is a duet of death.
We’re all “concerned” about climate change, but maybe this is what is supposed to happen. Any life cycle needs a finale. All stories end. Death informs life. The planet will survive us all – and the next sentient species might heed the warning of our demise.
Gone are the fleeting smells and charms of a life lived - replaced by impressions of regret. The gloom of passage no longer provokes pleasant memories – but instead triggers a series of images directed by dream logic. There is no determined progression of experiences. There are only highs and lows. These elusive sensations that have formed into a recognition of finality.
Not that time no longer delivers joy, but the challenges of life have overwhelmed our ability to deal with them. I continue to fight and announce myself. But how I experience the minutia of a season, the detritus of activity, and the languor of what is left behind – has changed forever. Score one for entropy.
And in Conclusion is an installation that stands away from the wall, with eight 42” monitors positioned back to back on stands. Four face in one direction, four in the opposite direction. Mounted on a circular armature are 16 small monitors. The larger screens present elusive states of mind, a mix of environments, dance and body themed vignettes. The smaller screens are a jumble of fleeting memories and real-world indictments – collaged to resemble the early stages of dementia.
Since much of my work relates to music, in either structure or direct musical form, think of this work as an extension (with notations) of the famous subtexts of Vivaldi and Frankie Valli. Now, the Four Seasons are a concerto that will not play forever.
Stand where I stand, and see what I feel.
Tell me what has changed and how I should adapt, accept or simply deal with it.
John Sanborn
June 2019
