The Perpetual Smile

Eyre, Sarah (2024) The Perpetual Smile. [Artefact]

Abstract

Perpetual Smile is a moving image piece specially commissioned for the exhibition ‘Omnipotence of Dream’ at Salford Art Gallery and Museum. Research Process: Surrealist works from the Museum’s collection have been used as inspiration, and Eyre chose the work of Marion Adnams. Marion Adnams’ ‘Variation in Red’, a reimagining of a fashionable paper mannequin in a dreamlike landscape that has a clear visual connection with the constructed spectacle of fashion display, and resonated with her interests in subverting fashion and beauty advertising through collage. Eyre’s piece employs digital animation techniques in vibrant colours, synchronised movement and unexpected combinations of the alluring and the absurd. This approach was used to evoke a sense of dislocation, mirroring the feelings evoked by both Adnams' surreal landscapes and the hyperreal aesthetics of advertising, in order to create a time-based piece that disrupts the subconscious desires and societal pressures that underpin our consumer culture. Research Insights: This work is part of a wider research project exploring consumer display spaces, spectacle and desire. The surrealist notion of the marvellous has been a useful strategy to frame this iteration of the research and connections between the marvellous and collage / photographic methods. The production of this piece has prompted further enquiry in to how the spaces of consumer display, spectacle and light are used in the creation of atmospheres and affect. Dissemination: Exhibited at Salford Museum and Art Gallery, 19 October 2024 – 23 February 2025. Presented as part of paper for the Omnipotence of Dream conference, University of Salford, 12 February 2025.

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