Event
David Snyder: The Other InterviewPost an Event »
Martina Johnston Gallery
May 24 - July 27, 2014Info
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http://www.martinajohnston.org/index.html
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(510) 558-0993
Berkeley, CA 94710 Berkeley, CA 94710 Google Map »
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 24th, 2014 from 4 - 8 p.m.
An exhibition by David Snyder, including a new series of videos which explore the performance of the self in the absurdly amped social space of the job interview. In these works, which reflect Snyder’s recent experience, the artist answers a series of generic interview questions - “What are your strengths and weaknesses? “How do you deal with conflict?” - in the hysterical and inappropriate voices of persona he introspectively observed himself suppressing during these formal inquisitions.
David Snyder writes:
The Other Interview/Rogue’s Gallery consists of a series of “portraits” – framed video monitors - each one presenting a specific series of emotionally charged verbal responses to a set of questions from what seems to be a very generic job interview. This project stems from the experience of interviewing for a series of teaching jobs, a novel experience that required a highly streamlined and unfamiliar level of self-censorship in order to effectively present a coherent (if one-dimensional) sense of professional “self.” At a certain point it dawned on me that this interview process was a great example of a way in which one’s words and use of language coupled with the performance of an appropriately professional persona can have dramatic and immediate consequences with direct bearing on one’s own life. The job interview is the ultimate real-life incantation – if you weave the right spell, you suddenly find yourself with an occupation, a salary, health benefits and a 401K.
Within the rules of the standard job interview, one’s ability to privilege clarity of communication largely determines the effectiveness of this incantation. Unfortunately, as a horrifying consequence of this, I found myself almost completely unable to resist the impulse to indulge in what amounted to truly inappropriate verbal and emotional logorrhea. The process itself felt so artificial that I found myself wanting to emphasize the artifice by indulging alternate personae or divergent voices and very real – though suppressed – emotional states, specifically anger, panic, and despair.