Natalie McKeever

My artistic research uses digital media to explore how we consciously and unconsciously develop a sense of self.  I am interested in the amount of agency we have in our selfhood, how the creation of self is entangled with our companion species, and in the unseen connections and power structures within our mind and body. My work is in conversation with theories of embodiment and post-humanism, and studies of phenomenology and affect.

In past work I have focused on the aesthetics of memories, the meditative thought produced by imagery and movement of the road, and hypnotic, durational works that create an atmosphere for contemplation. These video pieces aimed to understand the self as it is constructed in the mental world of our consciousness. 

My thesis project, Internal Worlds, uses a combination of large-scale abstract video projection, interactive sculptural components, and a pulse sensor to explore how our sensing bodies create our sense of self.  It additionally introduces the biological rhythms of other species to create an affective response by utilizing the body’s desire to couple with external rhythms, and the connection between autonomic processes (such as the pulse) and the speed of our brainwaves.

I am currently creating a series of interactive digital media projects that continues to study entrainment of biological rhythms, and the effect this has on our conscious state.  By integrating biosensor technology, I am able to utilize the stability of our autonomic processes to create a sense of disruption and unfamiliarity within the self. This creates a sensorial and visceral response within the participant. This new body of work considers the self as it fluctuates and is influenced by a feedback loop of body and mind. Furthermore, it examines how the self is influenced by an entanglement of external rhythms and other beings.