Announcement for "Flower Girl" - Feb 7th opening

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Catherine Forster

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Jan 31, 2013, 3:41:27 PM1/31/13
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Wish I was on my way to Berlin, but if any of you are in the area, check out the Directors Lounge
Catherine
"Flower Girl" video installation opening Feb 7th at Directors Lounge Berlin

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Catherine Forster
Flower Girl -
                                  inkjet print
Flower Girl, inkjet print, 21" X 28"
Flower Girl
                                  4-channel video
Flower Girl,  video installation

Flower Girl

Video Installation exhibiting at Directors Lounge Berlin Festival

I'm delighted to announce "Flower Girl" will exhibit as an installation at the Directors Lounge Berlin, Feb. 7th - 17th. Flower Girl probes the perception of innocence, and the transition from childhood to womanhood, during a time of confusing norms and expectations. The project was activated by a convergence of multiple events: my daughter’s 13th birthday; her distress over not being a flower girl in a family wedding; the participation of women in the Arab Spring, and their likely diminished role under rising conservative movements; the right wing “war on women” movement in the US; and the National Institute of Mental Health’s new findings on “Nature vs. Nurture”.

The project includes a 4-channel video, digital photographs, and small objects (flower props) cast in resin. A key component of the piece resides with the flower props. Each flower is hand painted and was chosen for its floriographic name, based on the Victorian Era practice of communicating through flowers. Flowers have been a symbol for femininity and womanhood since ancient times, but the Victorians created an elaborate code and system for non-verbal communication. The nuances of the language are mostly forgotten, but the implications for women still linger – the perfect woman must still be pure (Lotus) of body, innocent (Daisy) in spirit, and a wildcat (Poppy) in bed.

The 4-channel video will exhibit as an installation during the Festival. The video depicts, on separate screens, a girl at play in a pictorial setting, and an adult female systematically constructing a silk flower. Their relationship is ambiguous, and the piece beckons the question: can the girl hold on to her identity, cultivate her aspirations, or is she predestined to be a construct of her environs? And what of the older woman? Is she the architect, a symbol of cultural intentions, or an obedient pawn?

Directors Lounge Berlin

Directors Lounge is an ongoing Berlin-based film and media-art platform with year-round screenings and exhibitions in Berlin and various other cities. Annually the DL produces the Directors Lounge Festival, which takes place during the Berlinale Film Festival. DL's focus is alternative cinema, short films, new media art, performance, installation, plus creating an outpost for musicians, poets, electronic improvisers, VJ’s, DJ’s and shellac-spinners, designed to focus on art, providing an alternative and compliment to the famous Berlinale.



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Catherine Forster

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