Second Time Around: Ryan Trecartin

The more I view Ryan's work, the more impressed and intrigued I become. I feel like when someone first watches one of his videos their reaction will be similar to everyone elses'. "What just happened? And why was that so painful to watch?"


But after watching his videos over and over I realized I've come to like his work. I can appreciate the humor and subtle references to everyday life. I'm able to enjoy his spastic videos because I know what to expect while also knowing what to look and listen for. Also, once I got past the shock element of his videos I could actually focus on one thing at a time. For instance, the first time I watch K-Corea I couldn't even try to understand the verbal language because I was too distracted by the non-verbal language such as make up, costumes, gestures, and strange animal posters. Then, when I watched the video another time I could get into the roles that he or the actors were playing to try and understand their perspective in the video and straight up what they were saying.


In addition to having the ability to focus my attention and pick up on language, I found myself actually laughing at the characters. Not in a way that made fun of them, but where irony was being used. I wouldn't be surprised if Ryan deliberately made the videos so ridiculous, to get people to remember them. There are so many clips, TV shows, movies, podcasts, etc. that are watched millions of times a day and he wanted to stand out from the crowd. And stand out he did. I caught myself thinking about K-Corea and Wayne's World more than any other video that I watched that week, which I couldn't even guess the number.


It might be just me, but I think one of the many things Ryan presents in his work is human's somewhat short term memory.


Another point I would like to add starts with a quote from one of Ryan Trecartin's interviews. He said, "I feel like our ability to understand vibes, and to exchange intuition is growing; there’s a way to express a whole idea without using words... as we invent new tools. As these tools get better and better, we seem to be slowly coming at some sort of a full circle; having formed language, we are now moving back to thought, to knowing things before articulating them, and articulating being just for fun or a creative experience." When I first read this I thought of my roommate who I swear can read my mind. It sounds silly, but it make sense that she can tell what I'm thinking through language. Language that is everything except words. And I haven't quite figured what he meant by "tools." Does he mean technology? Body Language? Publication of ideas? hmmmm.... idk