Under-Ground-Up
Camille Surovy
Under-Ground-Up is a video installation focusing on underground performance arts, where each viewer is independently immersed in a 'multi-video-experiencer'. This is a one-of-a-kind sculpture, which plays four separate videos simultaneously. This structure is large and unavoidable, ironically the opposite of the performance arts portrayed in the videos it houses. Each video is played at the end of a tunnel; these tubes combine to create the original shape of the structure.
Each video features a different underground performance art, but all videos are synchronized to the same soundtrack. These arts are uncommon and are unacknowledged by the mainstream media: freestyle footbag, contact juggling, fire spinning, and instrumental music. The viewer may rotate inside the 'multi-video-experiencer' to watch any of the four videos. The sound travels through the unique shape of the structure, pulling the viewer’s attention from video to video, creating a distinct experience.
Too often, the art of a subculture goes not only unrecognized, but disrespected. Artists that work outside of the mainstream are frequently snubbed as being “freaks” or “hippies” and their art is wrongfully dismissed as flippant, trivial, or as play. Upon deeper analysis, it is obvious that these arts require extreme devotion, practice, and skill. They are sustained by active, supportive and healthy communities who are very dedicated to their art. They organize performances, tournaments, and workshops, regardless of monetary gain, purely for the love of the art.
Many of these sub-communities are connected and coexist peacefully, sharing their arts with each other. I am fortunate enough to be related to these communities. I felt obliged to do these arts justice, but in an artistic experience, as opposed to documentary. This experience enables the viewer to focus on the performance art featured in each video, cultivating an understanding of it. The videos and music send the message of the beauty, harmony, and passion essential to each of these arts, bringing the viewer to a place of serene enlightenment and appreciation.