Constant World: The Work of Jennifer and Kevin McCoy.

March 1, 2009 - Aug. 31, 2009

21c Museum, Louisville, KY

Solo Exhibition: Jennifer and Kevin McCoy present a unique combination of sculpture and video in this exhibition exploring multiple realities through constantly shifting stories.


Works Shown

Double Fantasy 3 (career)

2006, Sculptural video installation with projection.

The artists are portrayed as young people in a miniature tableau which reconstructs an early experience in which a future career experience was imagined. The sculpture consists of a vertically-oriented platform mounted on a floor-based stand. Miniature elements, lighting and cameras are mounted on either side of the platform. The live video cameras capture shots of the tableau, which are sequenced by computer into an endlessly looping live video, projected as part of the installation.

Double Fantasy 2 (sex)

2006, Sculptural video installation with projection.

The artists are portrayed as young people in a miniature tableau which reconstructs an early experience in which a future sexual experience was imagined. The sculpture consists of a vertically-oriented platform mounted on a floor-based stand. Miniature elements, lighting and cameras are mounted on either side of the platform. The live video cameras capture shots of the tableau, which are sequenced by computer into an endlessly looping live video, projected as part of the installation.

Big Box

2007, Sculptural video installation with video display

In the two Big Box sculptures, models of an American-style big box shopping mall are placed on a slowly rotating turntable. The clean, nearly featureless buildings facades have been modified. In one reality, a trash-filled wasteland, and in another an over-grown jungle. In the wasteland, zombies have made advances. In the jungle, the mall has been converted to a biosphere. A single camera films the scene, presenting it as a drive-by view on wall mounted monitors.

The High Seas

2007, Sculptural kinetic video installation with projection.

A video camera and light circle a stationary boat model, moving up and down along a wave guide as they move. The projected image creates an illusion of the ship tossing and pitching on stormy seas.

Double Fantasy

2005, Sculptural video installation with projection.

The artists are rendered in miniature as if they were childhood friends and their fantasy scenarios are depicted. One is a simple country wedding ceremony, the other an epic mideval battle. The miniatures are fixed to either side of a vertically-oriented platform which is mounted on a floor-based stand. Live video cameras capture images of the unmoving tableaux, which are then sequenced by custom software into an endlessly looping live video sequence that is projected on the adjacent wall.

Traffic #2: At Home

2004, Installation with video projection

Each of these tabletop miniature kinetic sculptures involves two linked narratives. In At Home, the film reference is Sugarland Express by Steven Spielberg. The other is a tableau portraying the artists themselves in the act of watching the film at home on a small television- a live video feed of the cinematic recreation appears on their screen. In the gallery space, a video sequence cuts back and forth between images of the artists in their viewing environment and images of the film scene they are watching. The soundtrack is taken from the original film sequence.

Traffic #3: In the Cardiac Ward

2004, Installation with video projection

Each of these tabletop miniature kinetic sculptures involves two linked narratives. In this one a small-scale recreation of Lucas's American Grafitti is depicted. The other is a tableau portraying the artists themselves in the act of watching the film on a hospital video monitor- a live video feed of the cinematic recreation appears on this screen. In the gallery space, a video sequence cuts back and forth between images of the artists in their viewing environment and images of the film scene they are watching.

The Constant World

2007, Sculptural video installation with flat-screen display

The Constant World, with its incorporation of thirty-six live video cameras, presents a utopian world that acts as its own advertisement. This installation is a large interconnected series of ceiling mounted metal spheres, models, and lights. It portrays a film noir melodrama set in an urban environment that is intercut with text elements. The result, seen on flat screen displays, beckons the viewers to inhabit the place seen onscreen. Drawing from influences as varied as Constant Nieuwenhuis’s models for the utopian New Babylon and the dystopian technological noir of Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville, the project revels in the gaps between images, their labels and their description.