same difference | Brandon Aleson

"The development of this show was fast and short; for that reason these pieces are untitled, and I see them more as works in progress than finished objects. I'm grateful for this, as it speaks directly to my process of working: it is difficult to walk away from the dynamic state of development of an idea, to commit to one iteration of it as a final output. The decision to call something "complete" is simultaneously to leave it incomplete in its ultimate specificity; as one realized instance, it is carefully removed from the context of the potential that it maintains in relation to its various- maybe innumerable - possible manifestations."

This show emerged out of the intersection of two separate, but related, lines of thought, namely, the body and its mediation by the digital, and the copy as a singular being. By passing the body through the digital, by transferring the physical to another substance, both their differences and points of convergence are brought into the light, along with the inherent form that gives each its distinct identity.

The 10 channel video piece is directly inspired by Steve Reich's phasing experiments, specifically Come Out and It's Gonna Rain. In applying this principle to multiple instances of the copy, the copy as a thing in itself is exposed: while standing alone as a unique being, its very existence is defined by its pure difference from the original. It is identical and distinct, multiple and one at the same time.