Choreographer Maria Hassabi's installation piece SlowMeDown consists of about a ten minute loop video on a large screen in the center of a dark room. A vibrant magenta rug lies in front of the screen for the audience to lounge while watching the video. The first time I saw this piece I entered the dark studio and came upon a silent pink screen. I was confused. Was this it? But before my impatience reached a critical point, the video cut to repeated clips of a woman walking across the frame, her hair covering her face. This was coupled with loud machine-like noises. The suddenness of this change jarred me. This combination of images and sounds was reminiscent of products coming off of an assembly line. Since the "product" would be the woman, the baby factories in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World came to mind, and honestly, I found that a bit disturbing.
Other segments that unsettled me also made use of repetition. A woman walking across the frame to the right followed a separate clip of a man walking across the frame to the left. While they were the only people in the scenes, I got the sense that they were in crowded places, like a school or a train station, because I could hear the ambient noise of human chatter. This segment of the video alternated between the two clips, cutting them shorter and shorter each time. This gave me the impression that the voices were getting louder and louder, but in reality I do not believe they were. Even so, the segment gave the illusion of something closing in, making me feel anxious.
This is not to say that the piece was not enjoyable. On the contrary, I found the work quite intriguing and overall extremely relaxing. Many sequences consisted of the dancers laying on the pink carpet, just like the audience, and moving in slow motion. The picture would focus on one person, fade out, and return focus on another. This was a gentle process, the images surfacing and diving like whales in the ocean. Calming white noise accompanied the visual fuzz that at first glance looked like a television that lost its connection, much like how the audience members lose their connection with the chaotic world when experiencing this piece. Upon further inspection, I noticed that this fuzz was a close up of the pink carpet fibers, a detail that works fabulously in unifying the work.
What I see as the main driving force behind the unification of the piece also happens to be my favorite part: the colors. The wardrobe of the dancers serves as the vehicle of the color display. Their outfits mix bold geometric patterns, some black and white, and others of yellow, orange, and blue. Even the nail polish was vivid, one of women having neon yellow fingertips. The same white shoes tied all of the outfits together. When the screen would blur, all I could make out were the colors and their relative positions. Each moment like this was a beautifully balanced abstract painting. This proves how carefully planned the wardrobes and placement of the dancers were in accordance to color theory. The clearest example of this was at the end of my first viewing experience. The image of people laying on the pink carpet blurred into swipes of orange and blue. These brushstrokes of color melted together, slowly being absorbed by the pink. Silence framed this segment. I was immersed by color. I could appreciate the beauty of pure color with no distractions. Nothing existed but color. I had reached the point at which I entered, but instead of confusing me, the silent pink screen made perfect sense. When the assembly line woman came on the screen again I was not as jolted as I was before. I watched the loop three times.
Awesome review that was a very keen attention to detail having had watched the video myself I won't lie that I was confused on what it was that I was watching. I was a little shocked when you said that the piece was relaxing since my first impression was a sense of anxiety and confusion. But there is a lot more to it when examined thoroughly every aspect plays into a sense of color changing. When you start to piece all these tiny details together I can see how this piece would be relaxing.
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