Joy Ride™

Description:

While in residence at Western Front, Constance DeJong and Tony Ousler produced the single-channel video Joy Ride™. 

This video takes the viewer on a disorienting ride through the manufactured landscape of a corporate amusement park. Unfolding on a handbuilt set with both practical and animated special effects, the work is thematically inspired by a devotion to the “transcendental” in institutional versus private sector contexts. As guardians of the cultural torch, theme parks and museums herd millions of thrill seekers through a mental maze towards a reshaped history and sketchy future. Here objects and environments become one. A souvenir is purchased and relocated in the home, and is used to unlock the crowded and carbon dioxide-filled corridor to the “transcendental.” 

Joy Ride™ features performances by Hank Bull, Brice Canyon, Bruce Fraser, Kye Goodwin, Karen Henry, Susi Milne, Adam Thom, and Yvonne Parent; with voicework by Brice Canyon, Kate Craig, Constance DeJong, June Katz, Susie Milne, Yvonne Parent, and Donna Zwarich.

Produced in association with LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). 

Video documentation is available upon request.