project image
Ellen Mueller
MONOTONIZE SERIES: WATER

first performed on July 20, 2013
Nes Artist Residency, Skagaströnd, Iceland
performed once in 2013

ELLEN MUELLER

Phil McCollam

Buckhannon, WV
ellen@ellenmueller.com
ellenmueller.com

MONOTONIZE SERIES: WATER
ELLEN MUELLER

This series investigates concepts of corporate management systems, prison establishments, sisyphean tasks, and surveillance systems by decontextualizing familiar tasks and placing them in natural settings. In this piece, I perform in a business suit sitting on a white chair that contrasts the surrounding coastal environment. I hold a ream of paper on my lap and slowly slide sheets of paper off the pile one at a time. It is a quiet gesture that can create a somewhat eerie or unsettling ambiance. The actions are further manipulated through the video to move forward and backward through time, exposing an absurdity and dry humor.