Hallucinational Judgement is a short experimental video that explores heightened awareness of
perceived judgment in public and unfamiliar spaces. The video is projected from a CRT monitor and
shows captured media samples. These samples include paper ripping, shadows crashing into each other,
a crane drum moving across the screen, and other props moving in and out of frame. There are also
repetitive eyes and floating texts that visualize one’s internal psychological experience of being
watched or judged, even without direct attention from others. Most media were captured in a studio
with black backgrounds. The background is the most important aspect of these samples. Over two
weeks, the samples were mashed together using key-framed animations, selective color removal with
Lumetri Colour and luma key, and blending techniques. These layers help achieve the psychological
experience the video aims to evoke.
In a brightly lit gallery, a CRT monitor rests atop a plinth. The video begins with a close-up of a sheet
of paper being torn, which transitions into a vivid, evolving collage of blurred green-tinted footage.
Throughout the sequence, digitally trimmed images of eyes are key-framed to appear unpredictably,
while short phrases such as ‘Please stop staring,’ ‘What do you want from me?’ ‘Leave me alone,’ and
‘Let me finish’ move dynamically across the screen in various directions. The video concludes with the
image dissolving into white paper tearing, then looping back to the start. The video approach is
comparable to Bruce Nauman’s artistic investigations of self-consciousness and surveillance.
Hallucinational Judgement is informed by my personal experiences of heightened self-awareness and
perceived judgment in public and unfamiliar spaces. One particular experience happened while
commuting by bus. Even though I know others are not actively watching, the sensation of being
observed persists. These internalized gazes from passengers transform the mundane bus ride into a
psychologically oppressive space, forcing me to regulate my own behaviour and producing
unnecessary anxiety and a desire to withdraw. This experience aligns with Michel Foucault’s analysis
of modern disciplinary power in Discipline and Punish, where he argues that modern surveillance
operates effectively when internalized rather than enforced through visible authority. He describes
individuals who begin to regulate their own behaviour as those “who is subjected to a field of visibility,
and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play
spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation which he simultaneously plays
both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection." In short, the discomfort of imagined,
persistent, and self-imposed judgment within my everyday environment is translated through the work
as repetitive imagery and intrusive thoughts I have experienced internally.” 5 In short, the discomfort of
imagined, persistent, and self-imposed judgment within my everyday environment is translated through
the work as repetitive imagery and intrusive thoughts I have experienced internally.
Hallucinational Judgement was created for the show, “Untitled” (Calgary, Canada), which was featured within
the Room 371 at the Alberta University of the Arts (Calgary, Canada).
