Evaluation
“Psychedelic Escape” is a video projection installation. Relaxation is the purpose of this project, the cultural context of this project is for mental health and emotion expression.
As people with mental health problems are experiencing social isolation, there are not many people understand or care about the mental illness or can not control their emotions. The videos are divided into three parts, lost; loved; healing. Each part is supported by a poem. First, it makes people understand how those who have mental illness such as depression and anxiety feel meanwhile to express the emotion of patients and make them feel relateable. Second,it is about the emotions of being loved. It expresses that people with mental illness are not alone there are people care about them and mental health, everyone deserves love. Third, it is the healing emotions to cheer people up and encourage them to face their challenge and pain.
The audience of this installation could be anyone since everybody has stress and need to relax, also most of people experience a period of depression in their life. This installation could be at an art museum, school or office.
The artist, Pipilotti Rist, has a similar work called Worry Will Vanish (2014). The content of the video is a journey inside human body, “It is created by manipulating close up images of skin, creases and the textures of human flesh. Every so often there are flashes of close-up images from nature; blurring the boundary between the internal and the external and exploring our relationship with the world around us, from the particular to the universal.” (CW, 2014) The video style is colour- saturated and there are a lot of close-up, which helps people to know the texture of different things and get to know the relationship between human body and universe. It also inspired me when i was editing my video,I zoomed in the video to create a close-up look so that audience can see the details of the texture and motion of ink floating in water, when audience really look into those motions they might feel relaxed.
“Worry Will Vanish” has a cozy space for visitors to sit or lay down on the floor which is a smart idea because taking off shoes makes visitors feel this is time to relax in this safe space. In terms of my installation, instead of using comfortable pillows or carpets i used colorful reflecting materials on the floor and walls to reflect lights in order to create a colorful environment.
The artist created this space with relaxing sound and video to make visitors give themselves a permission to slow down and stretch out, allow their mind to forget about their worry and just feel this whole environment, which is quite similar to the purpose of my project.
As for the successes of my project, using abstract art and poems to take audience into an emotional and colorful world to express true emotions and make people relax and release pressure. However the weakness is the decoration of the installation could be improved, i think add more cozy seats for example bean bags would create a more comfortable and relaxed user experience.
In terms of the further development, such installation for relaxation, emotion expressing and mental health could be used in video art or advertising for mental health organization, it also could be used in hospital for improving mental health.
Reference:
CW. (2014). Pipilotti Rist: Worry Will Vanish, Hauser & Wirth. [Online] Available from: https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/things_to_do/preview/3058
Pipilotti, R.(2014) Worry Will Vanish.