ASMR Series Installation

‘ASMR Series’ is an installation consisting of a projected sixteen minute long film and three digital prints lit with motion sensor spotlights. ‘Hallelujah’ is a sixteen minute long film consisting of found footage from YouTube’s ‘ASMRtists’. The film consists of videos created by the expansive ASMR community in which the ASMRtists use techniques described as “triggers” (eg. whispering, tapping, hair brushing, roleplaying) to evoke a specific reaction in the viewer, the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. ASMR refers to the sensation of relaxation experienced alongside a tingling sensation on the skin and spine, referred to colloquially as “head tingles”. The phenomenon is likened to a type of audio synaesthesia, as not all people experience the response; some people exhibit no response whereas others intensely dislike the sounds. ​ ASMR videos are shared online by people of all ages and nationalities, with a community of thousands of channels receiving millions of views. And yet, the community remains online and somewhat secret, something that people stumble upon. ASMR videos are watched in the private sphere, like on your phone as you fall asleep or on your laptop after a stressful day; in doing so, the viewer remains largely anonymous. The videos are intended to provide one-on-one relaxation, evident in the huge quantities of “personal attention” videos, highlighting the human need for human connection to be content. The actions displayed in an ASMR video are often intimate and private, raising a debate about eroticism and sexuality. Whereas the videos are not specifically sexual, it has been argued that there is a fetishistic quality to them, particularly as a large portion of popular ASMRtists are young, conventionally attractive women and commenters are men. In taking something private and experienced by oneself and putting it in a gallery context in which it becomes public and experienced in a large room amongst others, the images and sounds change. The actions seem more absurd, and the sounds more defined. The privacy is dissolved in a large room in which others can see you and you can see them. As the viewers approach the images to view their content they are lit in a spotlight, bringing attention to the voyeuristic nature of looking at images and listening to sounds that are wholly associated to trigger the senses. The anonymity of watching these sensory videos is erased when they are made public in the gallery in a shared space.

Multi-paneled Installation:Video on Sound

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:1 W x 1 H x 0.1 D in

Number of Panels:2

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