Video
My Name Is Scot
http://mynameisscot.blogspot.com
My Name Is Scot is interested in questions of technological prerogative, economic privilege, social alienation, and the limitations or possibilities of global citizenship. His installation, video, performance, text based and site specific intervention work has been seen in exhibitions, screenings and performances in Canada, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the United States, Africa and Latin America. Recent work includes Public Address at The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate in Sofia, Bulgaria, Malefactor at the Vancouver Art Gallery and Sink or Swim @ One Minute Volume 7, Contemporary Art Ruhr, Berlin.
Video title:
Hello Stranger, 2014, 1:00
Hello Stranger features my performance alter-ego – Madillah,, a liminal figure, a feral human character who haunts the interstices of the virtual and actual and the borderlands of urban spaces everywhere. Set against the backdrop of an indefinable city, first on one side of a chain link fence and then on the other, facing away and then towards the viewer, Madillah is depicted as tentatively waving, or gesturing towards an unseen viewer. Questions immediately arise about the nature of this character: what is his cultural background, species, where is his actual location, is he seeking affirmation or bestowing recognition?
As a catalyst for shared encounters, Madillah functions as a Transcultural symbol, an obscurely iconic other, staring out from somewhere behind the digital façade, greeting the passing viewer, and seemingly, recognizing in each member of the crowd some feeling or attribute with which he hopes to connect. Refugee, folklore entity, genetic mutation, security threat or a reflection of our primitive, unconditioned self; his image reaches out from an un-stated time and place and invites the viewer to do the same, to become engaged the on-going, real time performance of examining difference and finding likeness.
As an long-term performance character who has appeared in many circumstances in various parts of the world, Madillah is for many people the only image of my self as an artist that they are familiar with. His image is perhaps the more honest reflection of my self as an artist and as a human being – vulnerable, somewhat mysterious, not completely true yet committed to reaching out, and connecting with others in a real way. It is in this sprit that I offer this video piece to represent my self portrait for the ‘self-imaging’ call.
