Vicious Ambitions
Shoreditch Town Hall, London
Video and sound installation, 2008
(3´43; 2´00; 3´43 loops)
Wherever we are, or wherever we come from, our identity remains unchanged. In this installation I place myself in a role of a person who migrates from one place to another, with having the same ideas and sounds in her mind, as she is used to them.
The “Vicious Ambitions” video and sound installation illustrates the notion that format and identity are generally viewed in relation to the observer’s cultural background. The interpretation of those features is directly affected by the surrounding environments such as media channels, government, education and other institutions with strong influences.
As the role of the surroundings where a person has been brought up has the same effect on his life as the genetic code, the person is always strongly related to the environment where he comes from. Western society raises people in a state of knowledge that "ambition" is a progressing power rather than vice. How much does that shape the identity and moreover - how much influence does media and the rest of the society - which are often dedicated to a manipulative purpose – have? Is the direct environment more effectual to an individual than the primal nature?
The event that inspired "Vicious Ambitions" occurred in May 2008 when I saw thousands of people rushing over the London Bridge at the end of the workday. For some time after that I have been haunted by the idea of a never ending line of people having one purpose.
The sounds are recorded in the city center of Tallinn, Estonia which is busy with expanding and construction work these days.
It is not about getting away, but getting into action. Not about giving up the old life, but building the familiar environment into elsewhere. Not about harmony, but about not being able to integrate to another context with different cultural and social background.
M.L. Murusalu
2008