Marcus Williams (New Zealand)
I am fascinated by the uncertain dimension of human behavior which lies somewhere between
social and mediated experience. The process by which all that is biological or natural
(that wonderfully problematic word), is processed and codified into a highly
complex system of signs.
In the process of constructing a sense of
the world a complex interplay of influences comes to bear on our interpretation of
incoming sensory data. This is built on a combination of responses; physiological,
chemo-electric in nature, layers of memory, socially based comparisons rooted in language
and all other aspects of communication stemming from what Julia Kristeva would call, the
symbolic order.
It has been argued that within the
symbolic order, imagery is rapidly surpassing language as the primary influence on
consciousness and that a persons grasp on reality is more influenced by media
than by lived experience.
The almost uniquely human habit of drug
taking and particularly smoking nicotine has long fascinated me with reference to the
above. Its dual operation at the physiological and the social level manifests itself
simultaneously as deeply embedded symbolic references in society, literature, cinema and
television and as a bio-chemical reaction.
Smoking is associated with sex, death,
rock and roll, evil, coolness, liberal intellectualism, sophistication, glamour, power and
almost all forms of subversion.
Music and smoking have consistently been
used in my work as vehicles for exploring this uncertain space. Music with its primal,
oceanic qualities of rhythm and harmony which are symptomatic of the immense
diversity of behavioral response; from pelvic motion of Elvis to the cadaverous leer of
Marilyn Manson. Smoking with its chemical influence and cathartic lymphatic impact from
which emerges the Clint Eastwood frontiersman black cigarette, the Marlene Dietrich gloved
hand cigarette holder , the pipe smoking professor and the street lamp lit hat and cloak
cigarette of the under cover agent.
I work with a wide range of media but
often photography, video, sound, text and built environments.
I am an amateur phenomenologist who lives
and works in Auckland, New Zealand, I listen to music and smoke about half the time.
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