3 Haikus: On Sedatives
2019.
prompt :
“ Make an art piece about sedatives in a week”
My approach to the piece was to present what I perceived as tropes of modernity regarding products that function as sedatives.
My interest was about the relationship between a person and the consumption of a soothing state-inducing product, and how that interaction doesn’t necessarily require a hegemonically materialized physical item to be consumed.
Not all sedatives are anesthetic drugs but all sedatives are consumed to function as such.
Having widened the operational definition of “sedative” to include any experience deliberately indulged in for the purpose of becoming soothed, the phenomenological then seemed a natural inclusion to make.
I picked the format of the haiku and decided to generate an audiovisual narrative “plate” where the Haikus could be placed for consumption. Since I was making a comment on industry I thought to format it in a way that resembled a 1950’s American TV commercial break, keeping in mind what that period represents for advertising and the commodification of what could be perceived in hegemonic culture as fundamental needs.
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I wanted the video to start addressing the most hegemonic interpretation of a sedative: an ataractic product.
I decided to write about the bond between the medical-industrial complex and doctors. This was around the time I was learning about the mechanics and politics of the market and how the competition between big pharmaceuticals informs and influences the actions of doctors directly by offering compensation in the form of gifts and trips, functioning essentially as sponsors, to ensure they recommend and/or prescribe the product the pharmaceutical company has an interest in selling.
The Haiku is written as an emulation of a journalism piece informing a doctor’s comment on the latest mass propagation of ataractic products. It reads: “Doctor on Latest, ATARACTIC PANDEMIC, Not those! Mine better!” and concludes its section with foleys of applause.
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Secondly, a new Haiku reads: “Get rid of your truth! New custom whispers ON SALE -The Trinity Group” followed by the sound of the iconic Santa Claus laugh(Ho ho ho) which works as a “Kigo”(季語, "season word")(a word or phrase associated with a particular season, used in traditional forms of Japanese poetry). It ends with a foley of a crowd going: “Awww” as a sentimental reaction to something sweet.
I was trying to make a comment on how product advertising can often parallel the attempt of religious organizations to gain followers and members. This sedative would fall more into the realm of the phenomenological and points towards how our life experiences shape our belief system and thus our conception of what the truth is can shift to accommodate for views of the world that can soothe our existential queries. Since many religious organizations offer the solutions for existential questions this can act as a soothing experience.
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Thirdly I wanted to make a comment on a pattern within mainstream music production. The subject matter of most songs and their composition as well as the art surrounding them serving as a means for escapism. The soothing effect of music which has been clinically proven that has the capacity to reduce a painful physical moment I think is also transposable to function as a soothing agent for angst as well).
The Haiku reads: “THE HOT NEW ALBUM: Limbo over hell!!! Critics: Voice of a decade!”. With bombastic music playing behind.
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