odys, Nathaniel, hektor, X is a humorous video installation that uses gesture, sound, and perspective to explore multiplicity, identity, and coherence. It directly addresses questions of possibility and potentiality to the viewer, referred to as X in the title, through its three characters: odys and hektor, who both appear in several of my other works, and Nathaniel, who I use in this piece in to deride my own attempts at self-identification.

I play all three distinct characters on screen, and each of the players (and X) has his or her own simultaneous soundtrack. These ‘individuals’ spend four minutes on and off screen, trying and failing to take control of the space in their own familiar ways, whilst sharing a bagel and a glass of water.

The video loop is itself re-projected at full-scale onto a mock-up of the original set, which hangs, sideways, from the wall. A fourth chair sits directly in front of the projection, facing inwards, tangibly implicating viewers further into the work.

odys, Nathaniel, hektor, X attempts to mock the coherence of a singular self in isolation; viewers – who are visually placed above the scene, but physically and literally within it – are disallowed transcendence or ownership of the scene, while being whispered to about “what it all means…”.