Panel Statement
Panel: Emotion Studies in a Contemporary Art Debate
At a time when “politics” evokes feelings of alienation, passivity or abuse of power and perceptions are that individual needs and grievances are simply ignored, artists Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman approach visual art as a set of experiments to answer questions such as: Can hopelessness be transformed? Is there anything useful about guilt? Can anxiety fuel our desires for a better future? Can a belief in utopia be rescued and if so how? Hibbert-Jones and Talisman will present four current collaborative projects exploring the relationship between affect and political feelings in communities and in public space. Each project investigates social connectedness, emotional wellbeing, methods of coping and isolation. In Psychological Prosthetics, (“Helping You Handle Your Emotional Baggage in Political Times”) the artists utilize the persona of a corporate professional to offer a line of self-help products and services to the public. While offering to measure insecurity, overcome anxiety, and help to literally, consume fear, the project engages the audience in discussion, critique and commentary on notions of conformity, coercion and resistance. At the other end of these experiments the artists produced Living Condition, a short animated film that explores the trauma faced by families of prisoners on death row. Collaborations with family members result in an animated short film based entirely on their stories. Each project will be presented through short video clips, images and descriptions of theoretical intent, conceptual approach, methods of execution and most importantly the responses from the public.
- Dee Hibbert-Jones & Nomi Talisman, working collaboratively, since 2004, engage in dialogues about power, politics and emotions. Their videos, sculpture, installation and street interventions investigate the ways individuals manage power systems and handle emotional baggage from the mundane to the extreme. Their work has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the European Cultural Council, the Creative Work Fund and is exhibited in galleries, museums and festivals internationally. Hibbert-Jones holds an MFA, MA, and BA. She is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Cruz., USA. Talisman was born in Israel and she has an MFA from Mills College California, she works as an artist and media specialist. They both currently live in San Francisco, California, USA.