Description/Record of Video (with sound) ‘Treat’ that was part of ‘It’s Raining Cats and Dogs’ Exhibition at the National Art Gallery of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia, 2018
Title: ‘Treat’
This artwork is based on personal experiences and expresses how certain narcissistic traits are celebrated in contemporary society. A well known example is Donald Trump with this excessive Tweets.
5min Video projection with sound
Year of Production: 2018
This artwork is personal and consists of a shower of sounds, images and dates that have dominated the communication with a person in my life. The nature of communication has evoked the feeling of being ‘treated like a dog’ and often followed with a feeling of heaviness – like being drenched in the ice cold rain where clothes and shoes have soaked full of water, movement is restricted and no sunshine in sight to dry the clothes and warm the skin.
The doggy bones represent the treats I received from this narcissist. At the beginning I couldn’t tell if the treat dished out would be good or bad until finally all treats became bitter and distasteful. The text and dates are actual correspondence times (the treats) from the narcissist person until all channels of communication were blocked by myself as I learned that communication with the narcissist person cannot be done on a rational and factual level and that cutting all communication is the only way of receiving peace and finding back to oneself.
The sounds used in the installation are recordings of my text, FB, Whatsapp and e-mail alerts. The content and frequency of the messages became mentally and physically overwhelming and draining.
The artwork was a way of dealing with the effect the communication had on myself, to work through it and bring peace to myself by expressing it creatively.
Kirsten Wechslberger 