Conceived as a filmic expose of adult relationships and 'the games we play', 'Johari's Window' takes its title from a psycho-analytic model used in group therapy. The model divides the personality into four cells, which are drawn in relation to the way a person is affected by feedback and self-disclosure from a group.
As with most of Oechsler's recent work, a group of females are the subject of her explorations. In the case of 'Johari's Window' the members of the group encounter each other over an evening of poker. While the game progresses through various highs and lows, we become aware of the tensions that inform the group's dynamic. The action of the game takes us through a series of emotional shifts, turns of events and verbalisations. Oechsler considers herself to be a facilitator of the group scenarios she invents, and like a therapist, creates a heightened awareness of emotions through improvisation and role playing.
The work was filmed with a specially constructed camera rotating device, enabling four cameras to synchronously record the action from the centre of a large round table. The peculiar effect of the cameras combined with the vast space it was recorded in, draws the viewer into mesmerising visual rhythm; a little like being on a merry-go-round.
Oechsler's way of filming and editing the material culminates in a synthesis of patterns and rhythms which are structured, in the first instance, by the camera rotating device. By further cutting the material to contain only that which is absolutely necessary to comprehend individual games, yet allowing us to understand the relationship and references between each one, it reinforces and reiterates the repetitive, circular nature of human experience and interaction.
The game unfolds over four screens which radiate outwards from the centre in an x-type formation with the projected wide screen images circulating from screen to screen. As the camera perpetuates the action of the game in rotating patterns, the images - moving along from screen to screen - offer constantly changing viewpoints of the players, simultaneously isolating, capturing and turning the subject outward towards the viewer. The inversion of the camera's original view point in the installation has the effect of de-centring both subject and viewer.
Presented at Tate Liverpool.
Shot at the Grafton Rooms in Liverpool and produced by Martin Wallace and Nova Inc Film & Television Ltd for FACT.
Actors:
Neil Collett, Elisa Cowley, Jilly Dickens, Nicola Dixon, Marie Higham, Aisling Leyne, Catherine A/lacCabe, Angela Mounsey
Financially supported by the Arts Council of England with National Lottery Funds, Goethe-lnstitut, Manchester and North West Arts Board.
New Commission.
[LESS]Conceived as a filmic expose of adult relationships and 'the games we play', 'Johari's Window' takes its title from a psycho-analytic model used in group therapy. The model divides the personality into four cells, which are drawn in relation to the way a person is affected by feedback and self-disclosure from a group.
As with most of Oechsler's recent work, a group of females are the subject of her explorations. In the case of 'Johari's Window' the members of the group encounter each other over an evening of poker. While the game progresses through various highs and lows, we become aware of the tensions that inform the group's dynamic. The action of the game takes us through a series of emotional shifts, turns of events and verbalisations. Oechsler considers herself to be a facilitator of the group scenarios she invents, and like a therapist, creates a heightened awareness of emotions through improvisation and role playing.
The work was filmed with a specially constructed camera rotating device, enabling four cameras to synchronously record the action from the centre of a large round table. The peculiar effect of the cameras combined with the vast space it was recorded in, draws the viewer into mesmerising visual rhythm; a little like being on a merry-go-round.
Oechsler's way of filming and editing the material culminates in a synthesis of patterns and rhythms which are structured, in the first instance, by the camera rotating device. By further cutting the material to contain only that which is absolutely necessary to comprehend individual games, yet allowing us to understand the relationship and references between each one, it reinforces and reiterates the repetitive, circular nature of human experience and interaction.
The game unfolds over four screens which radiate outwards from the centre in an x-type formation with the projected wide screen images circulating from screen to screen. As the camera perpetuates the action of the game in rotating patterns, the images - moving along from screen to screen - offer constantly changing viewpoints of the players, simultaneously isolating, capturing and turning the subject outward towards the viewer. The inversion of the camera's original view point in the installation has the effect of de-centring both subject and viewer.
Presented at Tate Liverpool.
Shot at the Grafton Rooms in Liverpool and produced by Martin Wallace and Nova Inc Film & Television Ltd for FACT.
Actors:
Neil Collett, Elisa Cowley, Jilly Dickens, Nicola Dixon, Marie Higham, Aisling Leyne, Catherine A/lacCabe, Angela Mounsey
Financially supported by the Arts Council of England with National Lottery Funds, Goethe-lnstitut, Manchester and North West Arts Board.
New Commission.
