Longer/Harder

Longer/Harder is a video/performance piece. I use my authorship to convey difficulties parsing memories of anxious times and states of dissolution. I did this through cathartic acts with application of energy and flow. This work is experimental which I use to bring myself moments of personal lucidity through performative improvisation at the moment of capture.

This work displays an anti-aesthetic and almost punk approach where simplicity and repetitiveness are used in a forceful manner to give meaning. The work is raw, discordant at times but successfully conveys the underlying personal subject matter of my own mental health and unsureness and how this relates to my own personal perception as a valued and necessary member of society.

The video comprises a panning shot of my former place of work, The audio consists of the diegetic sound of my car's engine idling, slowed down, this is then layered with a phrase ‘work much longer, work much harder, taken from the isolated vocal stem of a song I had written and recorded in 2012, which was then Paul Stretched from a couple of seconds to over 2mins to match the duration of the video clip. This process gave it an almost haunting, ethereal quality.

I then created a performance piece where I took the video and projected it on the wall of 2DI studios in Coalisland, as the video played, I performed a live improvised soundtrack using a synthesizer in response to what I was seeing on the wall, channelling emotions gleaned from my own memories of the 13 years spent working in that building. This performance was recorded on video and is what constitutes the work presented here.