HD Digital video, 5.1 surround sound
'Extended Gaze' is concerned with slippages between consciousness and unconsciousness, between the real and illusory and with exploring tropes of representation whilst critically appraising filmic conventions. Shot in conventional portrait format, the video consists of an actress in front of a black backdrop and appropriates dialogue from a particular scene in Wim Wender's 1984 film 'Paris Texas'. The one sided conversation that takes place in Wenders' film between the character Travis and Jane - his estranged wife - through a one way mirror can be seen as replicating the relationship between viewer and the onscreen image.
The actress poses questions to the viewer that will remain inevitably unanswered. The device of voice over, normally utilized to convey the inner psychological workings of the character to the viewer, consists in this instance of a series of words that describe the filming process, the apparatus, props etc. The image is thus rendered as a mere surface, a veneer. The actress, revealed as image, is devoid of her own unconscious. The voiceover instead reveals the illusionary apparatus behind her appearance.
'Extended Gaze' is performed by actress/artist Berenice Prendiville.
