Sensation, 2001, Outfest, Los Angeles (video Installation)

A woman with short hair reflected in a hotel mirror covered with writing — Sensation, 2001, installation view, Platinum Oasis, Coral Sands Motel (curated by Ron Athey and Vaginal Davies)

A young woman speaking and gesturing towards an unseen person below the camera — Sensation, 2001, still from a color video, 1 hr 45 min

In Sensation a young actor is coached by an acting teacher on the delivery of a short text written by me. It is a blow-by-blow account of an enigmatic yet violent (sexual) fantasy from my own childhood. In order to embody my words convincingly, the actor must first invoke her own experience. As she moves through the session, she gradually replaces the verbal specifics of her experience, with mine. Sensation was installed on a tiny monitor in the shower stall of a room in the once notorious Coral Sands Motel in LA. The text that comprises the fantasy is written backwards, in eyeliner, across the horizontal mirror alongside the bed.