Guess where I went? Yeah to the National Gallery of Victoria again.
pigment print. Alex Prager
When Alex Prager traveled to New York City a few years ago, she would’ve never expected to be caught in a bottleneck. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with far too many unfamiliar faces.
Her exhibition dives into the psychology of crowd behaviors, looking at the intimacy and freedom a person can experience in a crowd. But also deeper into just how strange and weird it is being around these people. Her videos and prints take a deeper look into these experiences surrounding New York City and you need to see this one. (Okay, so I say that a lot but seriously do it) A crowd relies on many to give it strength and that is shown in this exhibition.
Ironically, when I went to this exhibit, I was one of few there. It is cool not having to wait for others to finish watching a film though, a must watch is the three panel piece. This might be because you don’t need to wear headphones or the fact Elizabeth Banks is in it.
Either way it’s an incredible piece. The film begins with a series of monologues, which are a mixture of personal stories. Ranging from significant and emotional to the mundane. Following on from that, is this collection of individuals being surrounded by New York City and the crowd has begun.
Moving in and out of the crowd, she appears both absorbed and separate from the crowd of people. She goes from being on the brink of overwhelmed to calm when she departs the scene.
Okay so enough of me spoiling this for you. Let me end on something the National Gallery had to say about the work. “The film is, like so many of Prager’s works, one imagined narrative framed within a collective memory and experience.” (NGV)