'Butane Blood Bubble' renamed to 'Too Polite to Ask'

Too Polite to Ask

Installed as 'Butane Blood Bubble (Internaut Naught Naught)' in the exhibition Passage, Belgium.

'Butane Blood Bubble' was a name chosen out of a passing obsession with alliteration and was used in part to experiment with the perceived necessity of an artwork to exist dually as object and as critical text. Later, when the work was to be exhibited, I added '(Internaut Naught Naught)' to the title in an attempt to suggest the exploratory nature of the work - as the inspiration and the black and white stock footage contained in the work were taken from surfing the Internet. However, given time to consider the effectiveness of the name, I have decided to change it.

'Too Polite to Ask' is a reference to Gore Vidal's famous quote on the subject of his bisexuality. When asked about the gender of his first sexual partner, Gore Vidal replied, "It was dark, and I was too polite to ask." For me, this sums up this video installation.

Firstly, I must point out that the videos are arranged in order to be read, from left to right, and as such are in effect a narrative. Between the two videos a scenario of observation is introduced. The first video presented has the hallmarks of internet-video, reduced in resolution and image quality to better be transmitted. As an internet-video taken from it's original context and placed in an artwork, it is a symbol of mass observation. The second video introduces the observer who is outwardly acting the process of observation. The protagonist is building an interpretation of the video with the limited tools that have been allowed him, until he has something that resembles the original.

Now, the question referred to in the title is asked by the protagonist and it is this: "Am I watching the video? Or am I watching my video?" When observing, there is truth, and then there is our construction of the truth. This, I think, is applicable to how we construct ourselves. The constant narrative that we construct and tell to ourselves is rooted in this same questionable act of observation.

Beyond our mind is darkness and, like the ancient idea of the human eye being a source of light illuminating the objects we look at, we incorporate the illumination provided by our own distinctive perception. To ask what truth these objects would hold in the darkness without the light of our eyes is a profane question.