The Rink Installation2011

This installation features three skating subcultures––Dancing, Gospel and Roller Derby––at Newark New Jersey's Branch Brook Park Skating Center.  Even though the groups share the same space, they rarely interact, reflecting larger racial and social realities in this city and country. The installation is immersive and asks the viewer to physically engage by responding to the screens from in the center of their square formation. This work uses documentary vocabulary in the format of installation. The decision to use four screens is spatial and thematic.  Arranged in a cube, they provide an enclosed area, reinforcing immersion. As it is impossible to view all screens simultaneously, the viewer is forced to move within the space, literally twisting the body like a skater. My goal is to collapse the difference between dance/movement and cinema, forging a reciprocal relationship between viewer and screens.