KatharineDwyer
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The cacophony of screens in this show replicate the modern sensation of living under a bombardment of information. Set slightly apart, 'JLM™ Inc Behind the Scenes: Meeting Minutes' (2016) records three facets of the artist’s personality meeting as the Board of Directors of JLM™ to discuss company strategy and progress toward corporate goals.
In contrast to Morone’s other glossy film works shown on flatscreens, the projection at scale and production values of the piece reinforce its supposed documentary realist credentials.
This new visual form of meeting minutes highlights, and finds humour in, the peculiarity of dry corporate tradition.
Ornate formality hides a bizarre discussion in plain sight: three ‘Ms Morones’ considering how to extract value from her DNA visualises a plausible internal monologue.
Walking the line of credibility is what gives Morone’s work its power: the viewer is invited to scoff, only to then question whether such an outlandish suggestion is feasible.
Morone is fighting back against data slavery by becoming a human corporation, JLM™ Inc.
The artist has trademarked her own data, and is looking to monetise this information with, for example, the sale of perfumes made in her biometric likeness.
JLM™ Inc 'Lure/Repel' (2016) Video infomercial and commercial, 4:50 min, Scents (installation view)
However, behind the parody, and merely by appearing as her female self, Morone raises questions about gender roles and authority in the corporate world. This is furthered via costume: swamped in a suit Morone’s smaller size and loose hair still signal femininity, and challenge why one person cannot portray a mix of supposedly gendered traits.
The artist’s dialogue is also silenced behind the narrative of the meeting minutes. The male voice of this device distances the purportedly formal record from the artist herself, but it is unpleasant to question whether that authenticity is more powerful when the voice of authoritative record is male. Especially when the secretary scribing the traditionally male corporate narrative is so often female.
Still from 'JLM™ Inc Behind the Scenes: Meeting Minutes' (2016)
Background: 'JLM™ Inc Behind the Scenes: Meeting Minutes' (installation view)
All images courtesy the artist and Carroll / Fletcher