Mindplace Thoughtstream

Nepteerwoazeh, nepteerwoazeh, every year nisksnoch, ha hah, every year, ehbday year whoa-oh. Every year ness-snoch, constant craving, always been. Craving, ah ha, constant craving, has always been. Has always been. Has always been. Do you know what happens when you eat Activia? It’s truth or dare on the dance floor, la la la la la, la la la la la, la la la la la, truth or dare on the dance floor!

1646 presented the solo show Mindplace Thoughtstream that included new video work featuring Shana Moulton’s alter ego Cynthia using the MindPlace ThoughtStream Biofeedback Performance System. This tool measures the rapid, tiny fluctuations in your skin’s electrical resistance known as the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). When your psychological stress/arousal level increases, skin moisture increases and ThoughtStream USB can help teach you to monitor and control this. In use, it ‘learns’ what sensitivity level works best for you, and “feeds back” this body/mind information to you in several forms of feedback. With regular practice it is an ideal relaxation training system.

Biofeedback research has “encouraged the dream that human beings can aspire to previously unimagined levels of personal control over bodily states, reaching unprecedented states of wellness and self-control.” Cynthia’s attempt at biofeedback triggers a disoriented dialog between her inner and outer world that lacks any sense of self-control but still manages to help her achieve some form of wellness.

Through her performances, videos, and multidimensional installations, Shana Moulton (American, b. 1976) creates worlds at the threshold of absurdity and truth, catharsis and cliché, the material and the spiritual. The artist positions herself in the role of an individual moving with worry and wonderment through environments designed from autobiographical experiences, subconscious associations, and fantasy. Ascribing healing properties to the banal trappings of everyday life, Moulton’s works elicit a potent empathy on the part of the viewer that allows for these narratives to continue beyond the immediate experience of an artwork.