by Nancy Paterson
This installation is a multiple monitor video installation in which
computer-controlled imagery is juxtaposed to reveal the diverse roles which
women occupy within our hightech culture. The chrome helmets of three women's
hairstyling chairs are fitted with colour monitors.
The imagery shown is taken from a variety of sources including broadcast
television and original footage. Imagery is divided into three thematic areas:
women and domestic technology - for housework, beauty and fashion; women and
technology in the workplace; and the role of women in scientific research and
technological development. Depending on the particular interval pattern
selected by the computer, imagery may appear different (or the same) on all
three monitors, or in various combinations of two the same and one different.
Juxtaposition of imagery demonstrates myth and ideology stretched to reveal the
irony of women's expectations of technological developments. HAIR SALON TV
counters the optimism and passive acceptance which women are expected to feel
towards technology with the real impact it has had on their lives.
Nancy Paterson: Born in 1957. She is a Toronto-based curator, writer and
artist in electronic media. Affiliated with A Space Gallery in Toronto, she has
organized numerous exhibitions, including a tour of videos produeed by the
Public Telovision project, PAPER TIGER TV, and a tour of recent videos produced
by Montreal artists, titled MONTREAL VIDEO NOW. In 1987 she curated an
exhibition of electronic installations, GUERILLA TACTICS and more recently an
exhibition and tour of electronic bookworks, ARTWARE: ARTISTS'BOOKWORKS.
