Sara Kraft: HyperREAL

Sara Kraft BAN5

This project continues my investigation of the profoundly ambivalent and conflicted ways we inhabit our bodies, our relationships and our world, and the paradox of physical, psychological and spiritual dislocation—and connection and transcendence—amplified by the digital age. I am curious about how we determine what is “real” and “true” in a world where more experiences are mediated through virtual and imagined worlds, and where even the basis of our “actual” physical experience can be doubted. What is the difference between embodied experience and imagined or simulated experience? How do we navigate the mobius strip of what is “real” and imagined when thought manifests reality and vice versa? While these questions and the notion of “hyperreality” may seem like philosophical concepts, this piece is grounded in my own deeply personal—and very “real”—experiences, and how they relate to what I see happening in the world around me. Right now I find myself particularly curious about the relationship between trauma, disassociation, the fragmentation of mind and body, and technology. I am interested in how trauma and violence propel us toward inhabiting imagined and simulated realities and increasingly disassociating from our own physical reality; how this in turn perpetuates our capacity for disassociation, and the paradoxical role technology can even play in healing this.

—S. K.

Sara Kraft is a San Francisco-based artist whose original work draws from her background in theatre, dance, film/video, and music. Her award-winning work has gained acclaim for its innovative fusion of media, live performance, and non-linear narrative. In addition to her own work, she has collaborated with numerous local and national artists and was founding co-artistic director of multimedia performance collaborative Kraft + Purver (creators of Remote and Woods for the Trees). Her work has been presented in numerous venues and festivals including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the HERE American Living Room Festival, New York; and the San Francisco International Arts Festival.

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