Suivez-moi GPS FILM


"A strange arrogance compels us not only to possess the other, but also to penetrate his secret, not only to be desired by him, but to be fatal to him, too. The sensuality of behind-the-scenes power: the art of making the other disappear. That requires an entire ritual (Baudrillard)."


Suivez-moi is a GPS film with six segments about a woman on York campus, influenced and informed by Sophie Calle and Miranda July, two prominent feminist artists that often feature themselves as the objects of study. I directed and starred in Suivez-moi to continue in this tradition. Sophie Calle's project with Jean Baudrillard, "Suite venitienne" in which she follows a man around in disguise in Venice in particular allowed me to conceptualize what it is like to follow a stranger at a distance as a curious onlooker. Calle didn't have any restrictions, she just went wherever he went trying to capture his moments as they were happening. Miranda July's work often portrays awkward situations and people's reactions to them. These characters often display strange behaviour and cause discomfort in viewers.


Situating myself within their performative paradigm, Bachelard's theories of the importance of a concrete relationship with architectural space and Vito Acconci's theories of performance, I tried to re-interpret the York university campus. The vast and often deemed uninspiring International Style architecture is devoid of any intimacy in itself and for its citizens. Me as a York student, and the protagonist in Suivez-moi presents a new type of relationship with the campus, one that most people would not have or think of having, by breaking through the traditional conceptions we hold about our environment. All the scenes are moments of intimacy between the people and the spaces on campus, moments that are made more intimate as the people never address the camera and the viewer is transposed into a voyeuristic experience. The wide shots are to reiterate the sense of space, and give it importance, additionally, as a voyeur, you are not likely to move close to a person you want to watch, but keep a distance. This means having to negotiate the external soundscape and other distractions to focus on the activity of the person you are surveilling. The viewer is only let in on the sound in one scene with the woman screaming in front of the Goldfarb Building sign, specifically chosen as a building I/she/the viewer has an already existing strong relationship with. This particular scene is also not a continuos take like the others but a amalgamation of all the times she has screamed there, instilling a discomfort in the viewer. My project tries to transcend that conception and engage spectators to be in the presence of intimacy. This is done through the abstracted behaviours and actions the people in the film perform.


There are six scenes that occur at different prominent places on the York University campus: Central Square, at the pool by the Central Square, the main Commons, in front of the Goldfarb building, between the Goldfarb and TEL building, and the steps of the Ross building. They happen in the same location as the viewer is standing in, creating 'presence' for the viewer. The project hopes that this experience will cause the viewer to examine the spaces they walk through everyday for the possibility of encountering these types of occurrences. The first scene is of her and a man. We are not introduced to them or their relationship in a conventional way. The viewer watches as she stands still and he moves. She is unsure of herself at that moment. She wants to be part of the architecture. As the sequences move along, the woman does stranger and stranger things, trying to materialize a relationship with the space around her. Finally, as the viewer reaches the last destination, the man and woman appear again with their backs to each other and take off their clothes in unison. How is it possible for them to do that without looking at each other? The viewer is asked to go back to the first scene and remember their relative actions. As they walk off towards the viewer, they never address them nor themselves. Are they related at all then? Who are they? Who is this woman transcending social norms? Why is no one trying to stop her? What will she do next? These are some of the questions the story raises.


My intent with Suivez-moi was two-fold – to break down social barriers with space and to give the viewer an unexpected voyeuristic experience as they travel through a space they are familiar with. GPS film is a meaningful technological way to have the space of the performer and the viewer unite. I want to mention Acconci here because he is both and installation artist and a landscape architect. He posits that the basic structure of performance is not performance in a space but performance through a space. Being able to be at the site of performance, while watching the performance that occurred previously creates a deconstruction of temporal and spatial narrative. Suivez-moi utilizes this benefit and attempts an abstract narrative that is still rooted in concreteness and not just metaphor.


In between each scene there is a looping video of the couple with their bodies shown from every direction. Above their bodies statistics are displayed: the number of times they have been in love, their high school grade average, etc. GPS is based on statistics and I wanted to include statistics in the film itself for cohesion and also to give the viewer a presumed stronger connection to the people in the film. The viewer is allowed access to read their bodies. However, adding statistics on unquantifiable things such as memories or thoughts per day confuses the viewer and in turn attacks the notion of quantitative statistical data as relevant to experience or knowledge. Does it take away from the experience to see the couple on display as 2d bodies? Is the intimacy lost? Sophie Calle in Suite vénitienne follows the man and takes note of all his actions as I mentioned earlier, but only through her voyeuristic gaze she amasses information, even though she potentially could have found out basic information about him. She chooses not to. In Suivez-moi, the viewer has no choice upon receiving the information and has to now negotiate how that affects their perception of the rest of the scenes.

Suivez-moi GPS FILM


"A strange arrogance compels us not only to possess the other, but also to penetrate his secret, not only to be desired by him, but to be fatal to him, too. The sensuality of behind-the-scenes power: the art of making the other disappear. That requires an entire ritual (Baudrillard)."


Suivez-moi is a GPS film with six segments about a woman on York campus, influenced and informed by Sophie Calle and Miranda July, two prominent feminist artists that often feature themselves as the objects of study. I directed and starred in Suivez-moi to continue in this tradition. Sophie Calle's project with Jean Baudrillard, "Suite venitienne" in which she follows a man around in disguise in Venice in particular allowed me to conceptualize what it is like to follow a stranger at a distance as a curious onlooker. Calle didn't have any restrictions, she just went wherever he went trying to capture his moments as they were happening. Miranda July's work often portrays awkward situations and people's reactions to them. These characters often display strange behaviour and cause discomfort in viewers.


Situating myself within their performative paradigm, Bachelard's theories of the importance of a concrete relationship with architectural space and Vito Acconci's theories of performance, I tried to re-interpret the York university campus. The vast and often deemed uninspiring International Style architecture is devoid of any intimacy in itself and for its citizens. Me as a York student, and the protagonist in Suivez-moi presents a new type of relationship with the campus, one that most people would not have or think of having, by breaking through the traditional conceptions we hold about our environment. All the scenes are moments of intimacy between the people and the spaces on campus, moments that are made more intimate as the people never address the camera and the viewer is transposed into a voyeuristic experience. The wide shots are to reiterate the sense of space, and give it importance, additionally, as a voyeur, you are not likely to move close to a person you want to watch, but keep a distance. This means having to negotiate the external soundscape and other distractions to focus on the activity of the person you are surveilling. The viewer is only let in on the sound in one scene with the woman screaming in front of the Goldfarb Building sign, specifically chosen as a building I/she/the viewer has an already existing strong relationship with. This particular scene is also not a continuos take like the others but a amalgamation of all the times she has screamed there, instilling a discomfort in the viewer. My project tries to transcend that conception and engage spectators to be in the presence of intimacy. This is done through the abstracted behaviours and actions the people in the film perform.


There are six scenes that occur at different prominent places on the York University campus: Central Square, at the pool by the Central Square, the main Commons, in front of the Goldfarb building, between the Goldfarb and TEL building, and the steps of the Ross building. They happen in the same location as the viewer is standing in, creating 'presence' for the viewer. The project hopes that this experience will cause the viewer to examine the spaces they walk through everyday for the possibility of encountering these types of occurrences. The first scene is of her and a man. We are not introduced to them or their relationship in a conventional way. The viewer watches as she stands still and he moves. She is unsure of herself at that moment. She wants to be part of the architecture. As the sequences move along, the woman does stranger and stranger things, trying to materialize a relationship with the space around her. Finally, as the viewer reaches the last destination, the man and woman appear again with their backs to each other and take off their clothes in unison. How is it possible for them to do that without looking at each other? The viewer is asked to go back to the first scene and remember their relative actions. As they walk off towards the viewer, they never address them nor themselves. Are they related at all then? Who are they? Who is this woman transcending social norms? Why is no one trying to stop her? What will she do next? These are some of the questions the story raises.


My intent with Suivez-moi was two-fold – to break down social barriers with space and to give the viewer an unexpected voyeuristic experience as they travel through a space they are familiar with. GPS film is a meaningful technological way to have the space of the performer and the viewer unite. I want to mention Acconci here because he is both and installation artist and a landscape architect. He posits that the basic structure of performance is not performance in a space but performance through a space. Being able to be at the site of performance, while watching the performance that occurred previously creates a deconstruction of temporal and spatial narrative. Suivez-moi utilizes this benefit and attempts an abstract narrative that is still rooted in concreteness and not just metaphor.


In between each scene there is a looping video of the couple with their bodies shown from every direction. Above their bodies statistics are displayed: the number of times they have been in love, their high school grade average, etc. GPS is based on statistics and I wanted to include statistics in the film itself for cohesion and also to give the viewer a presumed stronger connection to the people in the film. The viewer is allowed access to read their bodies. However, adding statistics on unquantifiable things such as memories or thoughts per day confuses the viewer and in turn attacks the notion of quantitative statistical data as relevant to experience or knowledge. Does it take away from the experience to see the couple on display as 2d bodies? Is the intimacy lost? Sophie Calle in Suite vénitienne follows the man and takes note of all his actions as I mentioned earlier, but only through her voyeuristic gaze she amasses information, even though she potentially could have found out basic information about him. She chooses not to. In Suivez-moi, the viewer has no choice upon receiving the information and has to now negotiate how that affects their perception of the rest of the scenes.