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Rita Zambori
Rita Zambori Kerry, Imprecion, Sam is a video installation that centers on projected, recorded performances. The content of the project externalizes the multiplicity of self-identity and how it exists in the conscious formed through human interaction and relationships.
segment focuses on my own relationships with one of three people. The three people are my mother, my significant other, and a friend. Each character in the video simulates gestures from memories I have of them, gestures symbolic of them, and of my relationship with them. I perform to embody the ephemeral energy in those gestures.
I appear in the videos as three characters, each of the characters a reflection of myself. Each video
The installation exists in its own dark, quiet space with a soundtrack heard through speakers.
An artist's statement
In that space, three single-channels run on a loop. Two channels are projected onto gauze screens that are suspended from the ceiling at staggered depths and the third is projected onto the wall behind the screens. The screens are approximately 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide. They are positioned in a way where a viewer has the opportunity to see all three screens at once, or in fragments as she or he might move around the space.
Kerry, Imprecion, Sam finds balance between a physical structure and the moving image through an installation that explores content and form in a way that parallels the intricate and delicate nature of human thought and understanding; to engage the viewer, through a visual, spatial, and auditory system of moving imagery, light, sound, and voice.
Rita Zambori
An interview with
Rita Zambori In your videoinstallation you appear as three characters in order to explore the multiplicity of self-identity, reminding us of Chiara Guidi's work of selfmultiplication. Kerry, Imprecion, Sam reveals a deep introspection and at the same time an incredible effort to experiment new form of story telling. How has your history influenced the way you produce art? Having always been an introspective person has always affected the way I produce and think about my art. I also think that my relationships, like any person, have always been evolving and while in graduate school, I was reflecting a lot on past and current relationships that have shaped who I am as an individual. For me, I know that there are gestures from moments in each relationship that have been quite impressionable. And while just brushing the surface of psychoanalytic theory in one of my classes, I grew more curious about certain specifics about the functioning of the mind so much that it became motivation for Kerry, Imprecion, Sam. My background is also in makeup artistry. Makeup is transformative and I knew that I wanted to develop the physical identity of each character through not only makeup, but also self-crafted costumes. It was in fact how I came to figure the performance, then the text and sound. Could you tell us a particular episode who has helped the birth of this project,
Rita Zambori (photo by Jesse Chun)
or simply an epiphany, a sudden illumination? I feel like this project has been full of mini illuminations. Throughout, I realized a lot of ideas that define me as an artist were coming full circle within this work that haven’t before. I was excited and I trusted that to motivate me until the completion of the piece. A sort of edipic triangle in the Deleuzian sense is projected on the relationships between your mother, your significant Other, and a friend. How did you develop the identity of your characters Kerry, Imprecion and Sam? Kerry, Imprecion, and Sam are the people I chose as motivation to develop the characters. I think of the characters you see in the video as more of separate energies possessing different traits. I knew that choosing a friend, my mother, and my significant other would help me build multi-dimensional characters because the relationships I have with those people are so broad in experiences and emotions.
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Through the removal of everything but the woman in the frame, you are constantly spot lit on a dark stage. Could you explain this aspect of this work? As I was conceiving how each character would be recorded, I knew that I wanted to somehow highlight certain movements without any surrounding environment. My reference was how I recall dreams, perceive memories, and moments. My mind only allows me to grasp certain aspects and I wanted to translate that into my video making. Plus, I wanted the spotlight to lend itself to the mood I was creating for that particular character. The background audio is not conceived as a has a huge importance in your
works. the use of soundtrack has not only a diegethical aims, but tend to add a sense of fragmentation. Could you introduce our readers to this aspect of your filmmaking? For a while I was fascinated with minimal sound, but working on Kerry, Imprecion, Sam has taught me the importance of sound whether it is present or not. There are definitely moments in my works especially in Kerry, Imprecion, Sam where the sound moves from diegetic sound, sound tied to the source seen in the video to nondiegetic, which is the exact opposite. I try to weave in and out of both treatments to create a sense of fragmentation, displacement, and illusion.
Rita Zambori
Rita Zambori
In these last years we have seen that the frontier between Video Art and Cinema is growing more and more vague: do you think that this "frontier" will exists longer? Having only practiced photography since 2005, I have gained a world of knowledge and history just over the past few years about Video Art and Cinema. There is still so much for me to learn and see, but from what I do know of the two, this “frontier” will exist longer and evolve. I believe that blurring the lines between Video Art and Cinema will bring new avenues of perception, therefore, knowledge. I think it’s only human to seek out knowledge and as an artist, to challenge how we perceive it. Thanks for sharing your time and thoughts, Rita. What’s next for Rita Zambori? Are there any new projects on the horizon? The momentum from creating and executing a major video installation has helped me realize the beginnings of a new project. I am interested in how image and sound information from commercials is understood by people and in turn, defining our identity. I am conceptualizing the project right now as a video installation where I can continue to work with material as well as video again. Thank you so much for having this platform for video artists to express themselves openly. I’m honored.