Monday, November 30, 2009

FUCK IN THE TOWN

This is an excerpt from the Electro-opera I created called TELEVISION. (see artist statement below.)  This particular segment is a parody of the popular TV show SEX IN THE CITY , that was re-titled FUCK IN THE TOWN by Tobi Vail and Craig Extine. This was one of my favorite scenes because 
A. Its the only part of the performance with puppet/video dialogue (puppet vocal track is the demonic male voice heard from "nowhere" in the video clip.)

B. In the musical performance it appears that I have a small army of zombie backup dancers.

C. Besides Evergreen, the first place I performed this piece at was in Rome for 3000 people on MDMA. They didn't speak english but got the reference right away and LOVED it. 



TELEVISION! presented by Dj european Dj


videoed by Nadia Buyse




According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years watching television.  The television was created to further communications of a modern society. Years later we are left to wonder what exactly is the television communicating? The programming brought into our homes by television producers and media conglomerates are some of the first images that most americans are exposed to, what do these images trigger in the emotional development of children? What do these images do to perpetuate negative gender roles?

 

  • 59 percent of parents say their 4-6 year-old boys imitate aggressive behavior they've seen on  television

  Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers.   Kaiser Family Foundation, 28 October, 2003.



  • 66 percent of children (ages 10-16) surveyed say their peers are influenced by television shows
  •             It's Just Harmless Entertainment…Oh Really? Parents Television Council. http://www.parentstv.org.



   •        When asked to choose 3 television role models, 80% of boys choose male personalities, while only 16% chose a female. Conversely, 57% of the girls choose males and      59% choose a female role models. Further, 43% of the boys choose only males, while                                       

             only 25% of the girls choose only females.

            Overall top 3 role models: Will Smith, Bart Simpson, and Tim Allen.


    •       49% of the children polled watch music videos daily.


    •        Sixty-two percent of the characters in music videos are male 54% white and 42% African-American. Males are nearly three times as likely as females to appear in videos     with a primary theme of social protest or bravado, while females are four times more                      

             likely to  appear in videos featuring a primary theme of love/romance.


    •        Over one-quarter of the videos include some degree of attention to female breasts, legs or torsos. Almost two-thirds of videos feature females as props, characters who are     used by the central performer in the course of his/her actions or who appear as    

             background. While female props are likely to be semi-nude (25%) as to be dressed in revealing clothing (25%) male props used in 40% of the videos tend to be fully     clothed most of the time (75%).


           (statistics taken from http://www.mediawatch.com)

 TELEVISION! presented by Dj european Dj is a satirical look at the gender roles presented to the American public via television.It is a multi media performance appropriating 

television shows and programming formats to create dialogue about gender stereotypes in mass media. This examines what it means to be a woman in the media and how that woman could be interpreted by the average viewer.  It is the first video performance created by playwright, video artist and musician Nadia Buyse AKA DJ European DJ. It is a mixture of Electronic music , multi media performance, puppetry and dance.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

What is a fantasy? What is an indiscretion?

 I think most artists are directly influenced by the crowd they run with, the people they fuck, the books they read and the music they listen to. Most of the time my work is directly related to my social situations and my perspectives on interactions that are sexual or personal in nature. With the Fantasies and Indiscretion series I'm not only investigating my own 'organic' influences but also trying to appropriate the most intimate experiences of others.
I think the fascination started when I was younger and doing phone sex for a living. People would call and tell me things that they could NEVER tell anyone. Me! a complete stranger is going to know your darkest fantasy or your most humiliating sex experience, and you cant even tell your own wife! She's the person that sleeps next to you every night who probably would not judge you or harshly expose you, or maybe she would. The point is, the things you have to say about sex are hard to say. 
My goal is to create accurate portrayals using the puppets to make these things easier to talk about. I want to see some of those less than shining moments, like the time your sister caught you beating it to National Geographic. Or to highlight secret fantasies like walking down the street holding hands listening to "groovy kind of love" by Patti Labelle. I want to demystify the idea of shame that comes along with sex and romance and masturbation. We all do it, we all want it, what's the problem if sometimes its degrading or not ideal? 


I know its a lot to ask people to just offer up their personal stories but I'm willing to share intimate details of my life, really awful embarrassing ones on the web for all to see.....

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ME (that I don't really want you to know)

1. When I was like three years old I had an oversized ET doll. It was my boyfriend, I would take      it everywhere and my mom said she even caught me humping it once.

2.I have a crush on Alf, always have always will.

3. When I was 20 I dated this guy who cheated on me with a stripper in Mexico. He told me literally right after we had sex. A couple days later he called me to ask me if I had cheated on him because he had WARTS! I had not, and I got tested for STDs like four times in six months because I'm a neurotic hypochondriac, I was totally clean. Meanwhile, after that scare I got in the habit of looking at my vagina like all the time. I have a special mirror that I ONLY use to look at my vagina with. 

4. I hate sleeping next to people after we have sex. I hate to cuddle unless we are about to or have just gotten done having sex.... well not all the time but most of the time.

5. I don't like having boyfriends, but I think I would love it if i met a boy like me. So, I guess my biggest fantasy is to be with myself. 

Monday, November 2, 2009

FANTASIES AND INDISCRETIONS!

OMG its the newest MOVIEPARTY! series! 
Back Stabbath 2009© Nathan