“‘To sigh for the bodily presence’: the two halves of the androgyne sigh for each other, as if each breath, being incomplete, sought to mingle with the other: the image of the embrace, in that it melts the two images into a single one: in amorous absence, I am, sadly, an unglued image that dries, yellows, shrivels.” 24 Hour Orgasm is a video installation piece that is displayed on a 14 inch CRT television, which is inspired by Barthes’ description of the embrace and extend from my last project. I decided to use a CRT television as a mode of display because I wanted to add an extra layer of mediation between the subject and the viewer. However, I also found that the intimacy of smaller television/screen complimented the subject matter (which in itself is very intimate). In relation to my last project I wanted to hone in on a fleeting sliver of time that exists only between two lovers, stretching out the moment of heightened physical and emotional connection between them. The few seconds of physical and emotional pleasure is pulled and extended to an experience that lasts literally an entire day. It is meant to show that when two lovers are at their most intimate, time slows, stretches and even seemingly stops in its tracts. The viewer, however, being an outsider is incapable of experiencing this fleeting yet prolonged moment of intimacy. Rather, the piece actively refuses the audience’s participation simply due to its length. The lover’s experience therefore exists in an internal plane, intangible for outsiders without resorting to extraordinary means or corrupting the purity of the piece by fast forwarding or speeding up the video.
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