Tomi Faison Documentation from a solo exhibition at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY January - March 2023. Made possible in part by Do Not Research First As Tragedy Then As Larp, 2023 An installation including two flags and a 16mm film loop of footage I shot on a bolex at the capitol building on January 6th, 2021 as protesters assembled and rioted against what they saw as a stolen election. Alongside the footage are two flags depicting 3D scans of classical Roman sculptures depicting Talia and Melepone, mythic figures in ancient Greece referred to as the muses of tragedy and comedy. By printing back out these virtual renders alongside the physical film, I am mimicking the devirtualization process that I see as a pivotal component of the events on The 6th as decentralized online politics and organizing entered the physical world. The figures, shown holding masks, are the origins of the still common dual mask symbols used to represent theater’s, sock and buskin. Text on the flags, formatted with “top text/bottom text” impact font (standard meme format), states the title of the work. The language comes from a slight alteration of Karl Marx’s famous correction of Hegel in
Tomi Faison: First As Tragedy Then As Larp
Tomi Faison: First As Tragedy Then As Larp
Tomi Faison: First As Tragedy Then As Larp
Tomi Faison Documentation from a solo exhibition at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY January - March 2023. Made possible in part by Do Not Research First As Tragedy Then As Larp, 2023 An installation including two flags and a 16mm film loop of footage I shot on a bolex at the capitol building on January 6th, 2021 as protesters assembled and rioted against what they saw as a stolen election. Alongside the footage are two flags depicting 3D scans of classical Roman sculptures depicting Talia and Melepone, mythic figures in ancient Greece referred to as the muses of tragedy and comedy. By printing back out these virtual renders alongside the physical film, I am mimicking the devirtualization process that I see as a pivotal component of the events on The 6th as decentralized online politics and organizing entered the physical world. The figures, shown holding masks, are the origins of the still common dual mask symbols used to represent theater’s, sock and buskin. Text on the flags, formatted with “top text/bottom text” impact font (standard meme format), states the title of the work. The language comes from a slight alteration of Karl Marx’s famous correction of Hegel in