Jo’s 90 (2023) Single Channel Video.

1 hour 30 minutes, colour, silent.

A 90-minute film inspired by science fiction narratives where vast swaths of knowledge are instantaneously absorbed via an external device. In each of the 90 scenes I pose in a different outfit, creating a distinct fantasy persona against 90 scenes selected from my archive of found footage. Accompanying texts describe 90 ‘facts’ stripped from their original contexts, underscoring a process. of fragmentation and reassembly of information. Animated brains proliferate with each frame and each piece of acquired knowledge, gradually overwhelming the screen and obscuring the backdrops. 

The work explores how artists amass and discard knowledge in their quest for deeper meaning in their work. The artist, donning a refashioned 1960s hairdryer hood as a battle mask—both an instrument of knowledge acquisition and a shield against it—embodies this tension.

The film is a critique of the mechanisms through which knowledge is distributed and valued, and the societal constructs that dictate our engagement with it. The work’s layering of personas and facts offers a rich, complex commentary on identity, conformity, and the relentless pursuit of understanding in an increasingly fragmented world.