Bipolar Mandala

Bipolar Mandala explores the pleasures and tensions of living a bipolar (manic/depressive) reality. The immersive video track exploits and pushes the technical limits of digital video's optical processes, creating a meditative, abstract stream of visual movement created solely with the visual properties of the digital camera, without incorporating special effects. This technique— fast shutter, long lens, rapid camera movement— creates a microcosmic view of the world, a microscopic expression of movement in space and time—creating an experience I liken to a temporal mandala. The shooting technique allows me to capture footage that presents too much information for the eye to decode so that the viewer is unable to discern exactly what is being viewed and must fill in the cognitive gaps. The frenetic movement of pixels metaphorically suggests my synapses and their (mis)firing. The minimalist repetition of Bipolar Mandala pushes the boundaries of seeing and knowing allowing the viewer to experience an altered reality or altered state. The viewer's role in decoding the screening experience suggests a lack of fixity to reality. Perception and reality are indeed subjective and those of us who manage mood disorders on a daily basis certainly know this to be true- if there is such a thing.

Bio-Maureen Bradley

Media artist, curator and educator, Maureen Bradley, has produced and directed twenty-five short films and videos, two video installations and three web art projects. Her award winning productions have screened at festivals and galleries internationally including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and much of her work has been broadcast in North America and abroad. In 1992, Maureen reached her largest audience of more than fifteen million viewers while appearing as a videographer on the CBC TV Series Road Movies. Retrospectives of her work have been screened at festivals in Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. Maureen lives and works between Saskatchewan and BC and is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria where she teaches screenwriting.