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ME, MYSELF & A I I I

Single Channel HD video (00:04:37), 2017

Me, Myself & A I I I builds upon research for the Diaspora Pavilion, Venice, 2017 and pulls together narratives from MANNA: Machine-Aided Neural Networking of Affect. The script was generated with the use of machine learning code, which then led me to develop a soundtrack using Google’s voice assistant API, and this was subsequently put to visuals from the MANNA archive – a visual library built up over the course of the Diaspora Pavilion show.

Public screenings include:

  • Stills from Me, Myself and A I I I, 2017, single Channel HD video (00:04:37). Images courtesy of Abbas Zahedi.

The sound harks to the everyday nature of sounds within a environment that constantly moves. Prompting memories of riding a stuffy bus, contemplating life or scrolling through my phone, with dissonant sounds around me. When it is just me, myself and I, I don’t ask myself about my identity. I don’t consider my viewpoints or beliefs, perhaps this is consequential of my privilege of being a white, cis-female. The building of frames in Me, Myself & A I I I could be interpreted as emblematic of the quick, quip ways information is shared online, alluding to the hyper-connected time we live in, and the overflow of narrow interests that feed into one another on smartphones. The work is not slick, rather, the scenes appear rawly cut, like when you finish something at 00:01, yet there is a fluidity and poetic quality that make it seem whole. The emotive quality to the work; the palpable sadness is human, relatable and known. It was refreshingly honest and it reminded me of why I started to like art many years ago – it sort of hurt.

Review of Me, Myself and A I I I (2017) by Laura O’Leary
  • Installation view of Me, Myself and A I I I, 2017: single Channel HD video (00:04:37) for the Diaspora Pavilion, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 2018. Credit: International Curators Forum.