Luis Enrique Ascui

I am drawing upon various methodologies employed by contemporary artists, including Taryn Simon, Olafur Eliasson, Marina Abramovic and Alfredo Jaar, who prioritize the use of emotion, bodily presence and spatial engagement in their artistic practices. As a result of the overwhelming saturation of images that we live in today, how can photography continue to make us feel as well as see?

The central theme of this installation is the dialectical relationship between authority and vulnerability. The large, high-gloss prints of police lines situated on opposing walls visually dominate the space and represent a literal and symbolic barrier between the protester and the state. The police line images are intended to be imposing, creating an awareness of the inherent power in organized and institutional presence. In contrast, the small print images of protesters are randomly dispersed throughout the floor, and navigating the space now requires an individual to negotiate physically with the barriers created by the imposition of institutional presence. Thus, the experience of negotiating one’s way through areas of resistance and tension is recreated by the physical movement required to navigate the installation.

Audio recordings of crowd noise, chanting and police commands layered throughout the gallery enhance the overall sense of immersion and physical experience of the viewer. The volume of the sound increases near the images of the police and decreases to a more fragmented and quiet form of sound amidst the images of protesters. By incorporating this layer of sound, the viewer is no longer able to view the environment as solely visual but instead is fully immersed in the physical and sensory aspects of confrontation.

The development of the physical layout of the installation was influenced heavily by critical feedback regarding the importance of the physical placement of images and the choreography of those images. Rather than relying solely on the size of images to convey power, I utilized a strategy of utilizing spatial relationships and the choreographed movement of the viewer to generate a physical sense of confrontation and power imbalance.

By employing these strategies, the actual documentary content of protest receded into the background, and the physical sensation of power imbalance, vulnerability, chaos and confrontation become primary. Viewers are no longer asked to reflect on what they see, but rather to experience the sensation of being confronted with power and vulnerability in their own bodies.

Drawing from affect theory, this work attempts to transcend the confines of narrative and didactic explanations and invite audiences into a space of confrontation and vulnerability that is experienced in the body. Utilizing installation as a means of reactivating the ability of photography to disturb, energize and engage, this work attempts to restore a sense of immediate experience to the photograph.

As my first exhibition, this project serves as both a culmination and an initiation—a transition toward a practice characterized by the risks associated with responding to the needs of others and the shared energies of bodies in space. Ultimately, I intend for this work to elicit a new level of bodily and emotional connection to the complexities of political conflict and create a sense of emotional and physical reaction to the confrontational nature of political conflict.