Idea: Immersion Series: Prayer Position: 2nd Edition

See: Immersion Series: Prayer Position

Here is an adaptation of the original "Prayer Position" series, I guess you can call it an exhibition.

Background: Influences include: the stigma against capitalism in indie culture; the fact that I am currently reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

Execution: The gallery should be one room, with very small dimensions. Like, comfortably fitting 5 standing adults. The walls should be dark, if not black, and little light should be entering the room from the outside (perhaps by means of curtains). The only light in the room will come from little, hot spotlights, one for each wall (on which will hang a portrait). Though I place an emphasis on the minuteness (possibly concealed) of the spotlights, stark lighting is ideal.

On each of the four walls, in the tiny room, will hang a LARGE, that is, Larger than Life-Size, photograph of a "model" businessman: slick two-piece suit; side part (or some other sophisticated style); expensive, dark jacket; expensive accessories (Rolex, nonprescription designer lenses, cuff links); perfect complexion; perfect teeth; etc. Like the original Prayer Position series, each of the four men are joining hands, although each man is in a separate frame. All aspects of the photo should be very flattering. The men are radiant, jubilant, proud, ecstatic about something, their heads seeming to toss back in rapture as they pray. Actually, their posture should really evoke the action of two people holding hands and spinning themselves dizzy, as done by kids on a playground. As if they are dancing like lunatics around...a pile of gold bricks? I'm extrapolating. But these are exactly the expressions I need in their faces: pure joy.

Although one might think the men are making themselves dizzy, the background should be still. Floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over a vast city, behind all four portrait subjects. The viewer must know that these man stand in the highest room of the tallest building in the city. It is a beautiful, clear blue day. On the walls behind the men hang plaques, diplomas, clocks, whatever might be in the office of a big-shot CEO. The decor should scream wealth, although I stress that for the most part there is window.

Other Specs: These "portraits" are photographs, and in order to intensify the larger-than-life aspect of these businessmen and really intimidate / awe the audience, the photos should be taken from approximately chest-level of the subjects, so that they are (just a little bit) looming over the viewer.

I request the walls of the gallery room to be dark and "starkly lit," so that an occult energy complements the expressions and motions of the praying businessmen. It makes these men, so self-important and invaluable to their company, the supreme point of focus, satiating their vanity.

Immersion Effect: Again, the audience has the option to feel like either (a) part of the circle or (b) the idol in the center. Or (c) The audience could also imagine that they are being mocked or derided by the subjects, the victims and objects of superciliousness / hubris.

The gallery room must be VERY small, I stress, so that one wall only fits one 8' x 6' (High x Wide) portrait. This way, there is a cap on the number of businessmen included in the circle, suggesting the exclusivity and cliquishness of these high-profile corporate positions.