Input is a video (with a score by composer Aryaman Jaiswal) that explores nostalgia and the yearning for a lost, seemingly non-existent time. Inspired by a mounting cultural desire for America to return to a glamorized bygone era, the work appropriates footage from the hit show “Leave It to Beaver,” a prominent yet problematic portrayal of American life. Short clips from the series emerge, repeat, and obstruct each other. Rosy retrospections are challenged as glimpses of emotion are arranged anachronously, stripped of their contexts, layered, and manipulated into a new narrative.
Input (Installation View), Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, 2024