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SHE MAD: Laughing Gas

A work made of 4-channel digital video installation, color, sound, wall painting, laser cut acrylic, artist’s clothes; 6 min. 59 sec..

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  • A work made of 4-channel digital video installation, color, sound, wall painting, laser cut acrylic, artist’s clothes; 6 min. 59 sec..

Date:

2016

Artist:

Martine Syms
American, born 1988

About this artwork

This site-specific installation by Los Angeles-based artist Martine Syms is the first sitcom episode from the artist’s proposed series SHE MAD. Laughing Gas was a 1907 silent film by Edwin Porter, which follows Mandy, played by Bertha Regustus, as she moves through the world laughing uncontrollably after receiving nitrous oxide at the dentist’s office. Syms reimagines Porter’s film today with the artist performing the role of “Martine” in a sequence of improvised vignettes. Shot on multiple formats, and including security camera split screens, found clips, and internet GIFs, these scenes reflect Syms’s multimedia practice and interests in cinema, American pop culture, black aesthetics, and semiotics. The text “Believe Me” appears both in the video and painted on the gallery wall as an extended caption. The laser-cut panel features an image of Regustus, shadows cast by a cucoloris cut-out pattern—a film and theater lighting device—and an article of the artist’s clothing.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Martine Syms

Title

SHE MAD: Laughing Gas

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

2016

Medium

4-channel digital video installation, color, sound, wall painting, laser cut acrylic, artist’s clothes; 6 min. 59 sec.

Edition

4 of 5, plus 1 artist's proof

Credit Line

Contemporary Art Purchase Fund

Reference Number

2018.277

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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