The very trans-cultural experience of the end of life has, in many places, become infected by specific cultural cues and belief systems. In many parts of the West, we experience living and dying not as a spiritual journey but instead as profit and loss margins within a revenue stream for corporate capitalism (from health insurance to pharmaceutical developments to the care home).
Solace IV (life & death)* is an attempt to dislodge our experience from the cycle of consumption so that viewers can, even if just for a minute, glimpse a different paradigm of mortality. Solace IV uses a series of messages using text within the graphics of kinetic measurements of electrostatic activity (usually associated with the the rhythm of a heartbeat). This dual channel video, taps into the viewer™s anticipation and curiosity to expose messages embedded between inactivity and activity of the waveforms. The messages (gathered from months of research) convey little known information and statistics about life & death.
*The messaging will be updated throughout this project.
Eliza O. Barrios a multidisciplinary artist who’s work ranges from installation, performative to new media art. Inspired by her fervent curiosity of how ephemeral space is perceived in relation to systems of belief Barrios often uses text in various ways to illustrate her discoveries. Her works have been exhibited at museums, film festivals, and new media festivals internationally and domestically, including the Optica Festival (Gijón, Spain), New Forms Festival (Vancouver, Canada), International Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art (Oahu, Hawaii) and Mag:Net: Gallery – Katinpunan (Manila, Philippines). Barrios holds a B.A. from San Francisco State University and an M.F.A. from Mills College. She has received an Honorary Fellowship from the Djerassi Resident Artists Program.