Second Self — Kyle Bates

Second Self, 2018

Kyle Bates - Drowse

An interactive sound, video, and text installation.

This installation examines disconnection from and engagement with the physical world through a bipolar lens. The audio, video, and written word stem from the practices of internal mapping and reading the self as text.

Visual images and field recordings map the physical things the unconscious self is drawn to while walking. Freeform writing helps define this self. Sounds–wild boars, pachinko machines, field crickets–have been distorted beyond recognition or created to replicate existing sounds in order to invoke the uncanny valley, a concept the artist has linked to living with bipolar 1 disorder. The work was created during an artist residency at Studio Kura in Itoshima, Japan–a beautiful setting for exploring the relationship between the physical and internal.

The artist invites you to engage with the sound through the use of provided electronic devices; He encourages you to piece together the scattered writing fragments to form new meaning.

Second Self Sound and Video Loop

The sound and video that played on loop during the Second Self installation at Studio Kura in Itoshima, Japan. The sound from this loop was manipulated live by the public throughout the three days the installation was exhibited, continuously growing and changing through human interaction.