Item 3167 - skin

Identity area

Reference code

ES OVNI RSC-3167

Title

skin

Date(s)

  • 2007 (Accumulation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

Video

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

My skin is a part of me. When seen by the outside world, it becomes who I am. But it is not the totality of me. skin is a meditation on the visual interface of my body to the world. It is an effort to present what is present, but also to express what is not. It is a possibility of identity, an expression of the seen and the not seen. The creation of this video work arose from the act of recording of the handling of contact microphones for an audio work. It seemed to me that my effort to incorporate the sound of my hands into an audio piece was not telling the whole story. I needed to acknowledge that my skin, the element that was being recorded, told its own story that was accessible only in the visual realm. I was compelled to activate the sense of sight to tell the story of my efforts to be seen as an artist who wishes to incorporate the overtones of being a visible minority into his artistic practice in unexpected ways. My training in traditional music and percussion systems, my upbringing as a South Asian Canadian with strong roots in India, and my love of technology have resulted in a practice that sees the value of tradition. It is a necessary construct, both in the creative process, and as a potential for creating work that reaches beyond it. My work is not a rejection of tradition (as system/social expression) but an envisioning of it to be more than an end in itself. The social and political realities of our individual and collective culture are too complex to either be “embraced” or “given up”. We need a nuanced and subtle dance with our distinctions, a complex relationship that allows for a reaching beyond of the bounds they supposedly imposed. From the Cineworks (2008) exhibition: Debashis Sinha's skin uses anatomy (which means 'to cut up')......skin is a lush and hypnotically absorbing screen of subtly shifting pixels in the interpretation of colour detailing the surface of a hand. Ambiguous forms unfold accompanied by an electronic, fluttering pulse. The piece marries skin surface with screen surface. By naming the colours on the screen, more dissection takes place.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

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Conditions governing access

Press: No; Catalogue: No; Itinerancies: No; Online archive: No; Television: No

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

    Script of material

      Language and script notes

      Physical characteristics and technical requirements

      Països: Canada

      Finding aids

      Allied materials area

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      Notes area

      Note

      Revisar Subtítulos Master es dvd NTSC falta sinopsis en catalan falta sinopsis en castellano Project Overview: Running Time 6m 10s (loop) Single channel video/stereo sound Other considerations: The audio for this work contains a very wide frequency range that may not be discernible on conventional TV speakers. Proper audio support is important---this can be as simple as headphones with good bass response, or a gaming-appropriate computer speaker system.

      Alternative identifier(s)

      Slug

      skin

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      Genre access points

      Description control area

      Description identifier

      ES_OVNI_2007_debsin001-skin

      Institution identifier

      OVNI

      Rules and/or conventions used

      Status

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation revision deletion

      Language(s)

      • Catalan

      Script(s)

      • Latin

      Sources

      Archivist's note

      all rights reserved

      Accession area