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"Nessun dorma: The Transformation of Mia Farrow"
operatic vocalizations to lip movements at 20% speed loosly based on Puccini's Nessum dorma (no one shall sleep)
from Turandot. 10th day of hunger strike. DVD NTSC loop 2009
Artistic statement of Amelia Winger bearskin for The Transformation of Mia Farrow and AmienTTransformation.
The Transformation of Mia Farrow and AmbienTTransformation are both works of video that feature performances done for a web cam. Both are testimonials that document a transformation while in an altered state. AmbienTTransformation was created after a month of insomnia; it was my first attempt to sleep with the assistance of prescribed Ambien. It was unknown to me that the video was created until the next morning when I discovered my office covered in honey and the video on my computer screen. Mia Farrow was on the brink of a low blood-sugar coma, having starving herself to near death (according to her doctor) during her hunger strike for Darfur that was broadcast on her youtube channel. Video testimonials provide the materials (and the data) presented, and the statistical formulas hypothesize patterns in video testimonials, popular culture, and transformation
"The Transformation of Mia Farrow: Statistics of Time, Space and Becoming"
Installed with a flat screen video display of "Nessun Dorma: The Transformation of Mia Farrow", at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va 2009 Chalk, Chalkboard, Statistical Formula
Amelia Winger bearskin
Vanderbilt University
Department of Studio ArtSamuel C. Shaw
Vanderbilt University
Department of SociologyStatistical formulas, diagrams, and hypotheses supplement the video by depicting Mia Farrow’s incoherence within a wider set of social patterns involving video blog testimonials, weight loss, genocide, and cultural diffusion.
According to followers of Farrow’s hunger strike (blogsphere), her aim was to generate public attention and support from President Obama to address the issue of genocide in Darfur by broadcasting via youtube daily updates about her weight loss, emotional condition, celebrity supporters, and the Dali Lama, among other things. Farrow’s hunger strike was to last twenty-two days to represent the twenty-two humanitarian aid organizations expelled from Darfur, but was courteously aborted after only twelve days per “doctor’s orders” to spare herself the possibility of a low blood-sugar coma. Despite the untimely compromise, Farrow’s purpose was nobly sustained by a loyal community of video blog supporters, whom by forming a chain of three-day fasts continued to broadcast the hunger strike via youtube. However, Farrow’s blogs also generated a host of video blog detractors who argued that Farrow did not know the first thing about Darfur, or that she was ugly, or annoying.
Diagrams, hypotheses, and statistical formulas offer a medium for making logical sense of this otherwise specious occasion; statistics illuminate patterns in a social world that might appear as a series of random events. The diagrams and formulas provided here do not represent real data. In fact they parody the logic of representing reality as data. In a sense they are absurd, capturing not the underlying social reality of Farrow’s transformation, but the absurdity of the event itself. A background in statistics is not necessary to decode these representations. The formulas use common statistical symbols, but the formulas themselves are made up; they make no logical sense. Nevertheless, the formulas and diagrams do suggest patterns. They are visual representations that capture, distort, and again give clarity to the social world in question.
Figure one depicts the public attention that Farrow’s video blogs accumulated (positive and negative) over time (or, as a function of her weight loss). As Farrow continues her hunger strike, her weight decreases, but approaches a lower threshold; already thin, there is a limit to the amount of weight she may lose. After the twelfth day, Farrow’s weight quickly approaches “normal,” but not immediately; perhaps Darfur was not the sole purpose behind Farrow’s “hunger strike.” Hypotheses one and two state in words the diagramed relationship between Farrow’s weight and numbers of supporters and detractors.
Figure two represents the correlation between Farrow’s weight loss and action taken in Darfur. The flat line indicates no pattern; hypothesis three predicts that her efforts will amount to nothing. Farrow’s hunger strike is diffused; it produces more youtube sensation than concern for Darfur, let alone political action to stop genocide.
Like figure two, the first formula questions the likelihood that Farrow’s effort will sway President Obama to take action in Darfur. The formula might be read from Farrow’s own perspective within the 15 seconds of video captured for her Transformation. It suggests that Obama would only pay attention and take action if a) Mia Farrow herself is performing the hunger strike, b) her rendition of nessun dorma is on key, c) she touches her face enough, and d) people appear out of her head. The second formula questions whatever effect web video testimonials might have generally. Take the cross product of the sum of popular video blogs with the sum of their visual and aural elements.
The final figure puts a series of social phenomena and processes in play in a statement of their relationships. Transformation is found to be a sum of the vector of coefficients for all video testimonials and video blog communities, with is a function of their diffusion, which is a function of the interaction between celebrity and video technology. Celebrity is conditioned by and conditions the porn industry, which drives the development of web video technology, which again makes video testimonials possible.
Transformation happens on the body; we lose weight; we become digital. We are represented and archived in the internet. Statistically, these formulas mean nothing; they are representation of the concept of transformation.
