The American Dream: A Juxtaposition

Just entered my video into an exhibit in Chicago.
Below is my statement:

How does one define the American Dream? Is it the attainment of a collection of priceless objects, living the lavish lifestyle of wealth and fame? Or is it attained through our accomplishments? The often touted goal of "having it all", is this possible? How does one maintain the delicate balance of family, career, and personal accomplishments, without losing the personal sense of themselves? True happiness comes from the intra-personal relationship with one’s self, and the inter-personal relationships with others, through the interactions of a small community of close contacts. Ultimately, we are defined by our dreams. The American Dream is a personal institution, one that suffers in our disconnected, wired world, with its fast paced modernity. We offer only passing glances to others as we go about in our media focused consumerist culture, missing the greater things of value, a true awareness of the moments, and real connections. Only through living a valid life, doing what one loves, contributing to civilization in a lasting way, and engaging with others, can the American Dream be realized.

New Exhibit in the Works

The new exhibition planned for November is called "Moving Pictures". It is an installation with two video works by Laura Brent, that look more like photographs. It is an experimental piece, and the videos, in which very little happens, will make the viewer wonder about what they are seeing.
The title, used before in a 2002 exhibit at the Guggenheim (NYC), included works by Marina Abramovic, Vito Acconci, Kara Walker and Shirin Neshat, among others. The exhibit explored the affects of this new reproducible media in art making, it ability to render visible conceptual concepts and questioned the supposed objectivity of representation in itself .
This small solo presentation could never attain the drama of the museum's show, but I want the viewer to gain a sense of themselves, their youth, and their mortality. This piece follows my ongoing study of how we see things, how our media saturated culture has affected our way of looking, and visually experiencing and interacting with our environment. It is similar in feel to Brent's previous exhibits, Public Practice, and "pinching the light fantastic".