TEA PARTY ©2004 Edition of 3 with installation Edition of 3 with out installation 5 minutes 30 seconds: “Tea Party” evokes the ritual and nostalgia of a traditional English tea service while providing a platform for competitive deception and deceit. Two schoolboys dressed as bandits crawl through the woods following a trail of breadcrumbs like animals from a storybook. They are led to a giant box trap, which ensnares them. They commence with a very proper tea service; thus, undermining their wild animal-like appearance and initial behavior. But in a true Darwinian struggle for survival, they secretly poison each other and lead each other to their own early demise. The events unfold like a Shakespearian tragedy in which no one wins. In the end, both characters disintegrate and are absorbed back into the earth. The video itself is projected inside a larger than life size box trap in which the viewer is encouraged to enter and watch the narrative unfold. The viewing space references the video’s actual location and the actions taking, and thus implicates the viewer as he or she watches the video.
