Aaron Michael Smith - it’s so easy (the mechanism of power)

audio/video installation & performance ~ percussion & live electronics ~ 45'-60' (performance component)

A collaborative work between independent filmmaker Russell Sheaffer and composer Aaron Michael Smith, "it's so easy (the mechanism of power)" creates a dystopian landscape that explores the repercussions of disproportionate access to moments in others' lives.

In 2015, a post-accident legal dispute took a surprising turn when the defense attorneys attempted to draw upon extensive surveillance footage of Sheaffer taken during the Atlanta Film Festival, held earlier that year. Sheaffer, and everyone he had come into contact with that weekend -- friends, festival staff, and strangers alike -- were all the unwitting subjects of this footage.

"it's so easy (the mechanism of power)" manipulates the repurposed surveillance footage and new footage from within the installation in real time, creating a fractured and ever-changing visual and audio landscape that examines the ease with which the unsuspecting bystander becomes subject.

it's so easy (the mechanism of power) is both an installation and a performance - the performance component was written for Sean Gill on a TV/trash electronics instrument newly built for each iteration

saxophone samples recorded by Steven Banks (http://steven-banks.com/) in Evanston, IL in 2016

installation & live performance is run in Max/MSP & Jitter

sound is 7.1

SHOWINGS:
Atlanta Film Festival, 2016, Atlanta, GA
Middle Coast Film Festival, 2017, Bloomington, IN
San Diego Underground Film Festival, 2018, San Diego, CA