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Quality Time with the Family
Q and A
Owen Eric Wood discusses mainstream media, family and his interdisciplinary project Quality Time with the Family.
Q: Is it important that you replaced your family with television sets? Are you making a statement about TV and the media?
It was not my original intent to criticize television or mainstream media. My initial idea was to recreate my experience eating dinner with my family, where I perform the role of me and the rest of my family is somehow replaced with representations of them. Video was the ideal medium for this since it allows for the use of moving image and sound. I didn't merely capture single moments in time, as a photograph does, but sequences of time.
In this sense, the moving image makes my family members come to life, which helps to emphasize the sense of desperation or futility in the project. Playing the videos on television monitors was a natural decision since I could maintain a human scale and the physical object of the televison set would replace the physical presence of each person's body sitting in the chairs.
In retrospect though, this project says a lot about the influence of media on family and human interaction in general. Personally, it hurts me to think that my parents probably spend more time watching television in a week than they spend talking to me over the course of a year. TV is not the only contributor to this; geography is also a factor as well as my own personality flaws (related to living in my internalized world as a self-absorbed artist). But TV plays its part. And I don't think my family is unique in this respect. TV has made people into passive viewers and weakened the social skills of the general population.
Q: Do you watch TV?
I am glad you asked that. I never want to come across as an innocent idealist preaching on a soap box. Like my video Lost, which criticizes online chatting, an activity that I have taken part in, Quality Time with the Family criticizes TV while acknowledging I watch TV. So, yes, yes, of course I watch TV, yes... but not in the traditional sense. I mean I don't watch TV on TV. I am addicted to watching TV series I can rent at the video store because I can watch four or five episodes in a row without commercials and without waiting a week to see what happens next in the story. So I have to admit being a fan of television. TV allows for long-term storytelling that movies simply don't have the time for. I secretly dream of writing a TV show.
That being said, I think the Internet is the new idiot box. I spend far more time online than watching TV in any form.
Q: What was it like to get your family involved in this project?
It was a logistical nightmare. Actually, in all respects, from shooting the footage to accessing the equipment, this is one of the most difficult projects I have ever done. In terms of getting my family to take part, I simply didn't give them a choice in the matter, which is why you hear their reluctance in the video. I wouldn't have had it an other way though. Any reaction they had to the camera was either negative or objective in the sense that they asked questions about the project. I never felt that anyone was performing for the camera.
The unedited footage is pretty much an accurate depiction of my family and the kind of conversation that occurs when we have dinner together. This is why I have shown a third version of this project, which involves screening some of the raw footage to an audience who shares a meal together. I wanted people to see how my family really is, which is not communicated through the video or installation.
The irony is that the members of my family participated in a project about my feelings of alienation towards them. In a way, their participation says more than the project itself. Their participation contradicts the feelings that inspired the project, but I see that as the optimistic element. It suggests my interpretation of events is wrong. I have realized in the past that the problems in my life often have more to do with my perception of reality than what's really going on.
Q: How did your family react to the finished product?
The reactions varied among my siblings, although they were all positive. But I think their reactions had more to do with their personalities than any sort of objective criticism. My sister didn't realize I had inserted her presence into the video using clips of her from another meal since she wasn't present for the meal that produced the main content. The fact that I fooled her was a great compliment. My brothers liked it, too. Their support is appreciated, but limited to the fact that they like to be supportive.
Overall though, it was interesting to see that their enthusiasm for the project was substantially more positive than when I was shooting the footage, during which time they all complained about the presence of the camera or my interaction in the meal, which can be heard in the video version of the project.
I have yet to show the project to my parents, not because I fear their reactions but because I am afraid they will have no reaction and won't be interested in the project. I still desire parental approval. On the other hand, I am afraid they will become interested and I will lose the ability to capture natural depictions of them.
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