Plato’s Allegory of the Cave describes people who have lived their lives trapped in a cave facing a blank wall. The prisoners view projected shadows and identify them, which forms their only experience of reality. The philosopher is the freed prisoner who recognises this artificiality, and can now take action within a true reality. Tarot cards, runes and dream symbolism are divination practices used to determine, interpret and control our life experience. Our “cave” is now a 24-hour stream of input assault that has rendered us into those helpless prisoners of Plato’s teachings. Fortunately, we now have the ability to change the paradigm.

My self-portraits serve as a form of psychotherapy. The process of freezing depression and anxiety in a fixed image allows me to reclaim my power by determining what no longer works and what I would like to change.

I also create performance art films reflecting this state of mind. Prisoner was the first, about inherited family trauma. Dream reflected my fugue state travels to and from nanny gigs, often late at night. The Death Card was a desire to become a more authentic human by unravelling the layers of pain masking my true self.

Nina Isabelle asked me to test her experimental Video Manifestation System, which is partly based on Jung’s Red Book concept of active imagination as a meditation technique. Unconscious desires translate into sound and vision, resulting in an alchemical bridge between the unconscious and the waking world. This was right up my street, so I started creating films with her specific instructions.

The resulting VMS films intend to reprogram and reframe the human mind in order to generate a more useful reality by aligning intention with action. These films mimic my experience of the dream state and serve as a facsimile of how my brain operates, but this series uses very intentional visual and aural input. Each VMS film consists of five one minute sequences; the abrupt endings mimic the sudden jolting of the awakened state. The directions on how to experience these films are very specific. Take action, take responsibility, and learn from what wasn’t working. Will this experiment work? Only one way to find out!

credit: THE VIDEO MANIFESTATION SYSTEM - A METHODOLOGY FOR MANUFACTURING NEW REALITIES

Conceived and written by Nina Isabelle and Released by HUMAN TRASH DUMP on ARCHIVE.ORG November 2017

Alice Teeple (BA, Integrative Arts, Penn State) is a multidisciplinary artist, performer and writer. She explores the collective subconscious, human condition and spirituality through conceptual and documentary channels. She lives in New York City, working as a photographer, serving as the Arts Editor for Downtown Magazine, and writing for Post-Punk.com.