Above are three still shots of Rainbows, Study No. 5, which is intended to be an interactive video/installation. In its physical form, the work consists of six separate DVD discs, with each label coloured, and placed on a sqaure of coloured paper. The content of five of these discs consist of a single shot of a person (very much inspired by Andy Warhol's screen tests) who is backdropped by various colors and set to five very different pieces of music; namely a punk/hardcore song ("World Up My Ass" by Circle Jerks), a jazz piece of music ("John McLaughlin" by Miles Davis), an electronic piece of music ("IO" by Autechre), a classical piece of music (Debussy - Preludes Book 1, "Danseuses De Delphes") and a rap song ("Night of the Living Baseheads" by Public Enemy). The use of these pieces is an integral part of the work, which is focussed on the notion that music plays an important and powerful role in conveying, suggesting or supporting emotions or ideas relating to its subject matter. Here, the use of different pieces of music suggest different attitudes about, and representations of, the subject, who is meant to be a symbol of youth culture. The sixth disc, in the works physical form, is the credits. A viewer is invited to pick out from the six discs and play them in a random order. Playing any particular DVD first, the viewer builds up inevitable preconceptions and attitudes towards the subject based on the soundtrack. These preconceptions and attitudes are challenged and mutated by playing further DVDs. Adding an additional DVD of credits is an attempt to subvert conventional chronological narrative, through the chance of it being played at any other point other than at the end by the viewer who is randomly selecting the playing order of the DVDs.
View the videos at rainbows.adrian-clement.com
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