ASMR Library (2016 – Ongoing)
ASMR Library is a project composed of:
â—‹Â Youtube playlistâ—‹ Worldcat.org bibliographyâ—‹ Printed edition (four posters, 200 pcs)â—‹Â Written piece for Staple Magazineâ—‹ A commissioned video
On December 17th 2016, it has been displayed @Colli independent art gallery and bookshop, through a desktop composition that featured a custom webpage and a .mov.
In November 2017 Staple Magazine featured the following text in Object of Delight, issue #2
ASMR Library reconstructs new ways of illustrating the thingness and sensuality of the paper book, through an exploration of the uncanny valley of its vernacular representation amidst video sharing platforms such as YouTube.
(No show no tell)Collected videos share the same approach towards reading, the book-object, image composition and performativity. In this selection, the vocal aspect recedes into the background or is completely eliminated: there is no reading, rather occasional imperceptible whispers disconnected from any plausible reading time that emphasize the detachment of the content from the original medium. Camera-gaze videos, Â stimulating an interaction with the viewer, were excluded and videos with close-up photography that celebrates the volume and the hands of the performer were privileged; in short, the playlist aims to represent the paradoxical tension between the total absence of narrative and a situation that normally needs a narrative (indeed in which the narrative is a fundamental condition).
(Representation of the book and reading)We witness a complete abstraction of the book as cultural object and its reading process. Gestures are deconstructed, isolated and repeated cyclically arriving at a deliberate and anti-utilitarian gesture. The book is not read: rather, it is used and performed.
(Representation of touch)The ASMR videos show the materiality and tactility in dematerializing media and formats like youtube. The impossibility of directly transmitting haptic stimulation to the fingertips of the viewer brings emphasized effects through objects serving as prosthesis.Some users use brushes to dust and caress the book pages and the dry sound amplifies the tactile sensation becoming prosthetic fingers and fingertips; others use long origami claws to browse teenager’s books. In many cases, anatomic parts such as particularly long and artificial nails are so far away from a natural condition of growth that they become tools to play the book.
(Comfort zone / Fetish)In many ASMR videos, everyday objects are chosen on a sound output (eg wrapping paper), anti-stress use (eg magic sands, slime) or symbolic (books or childhood related objects). The neutrality of these objects collides with a cryptic and abstract usage.Nail tapping on the desk with long fingernails –subtly fetishistic and playing on feelings of subordination– often recurs in ASMR videos. When this nail tapping meets books and their hardcover canvases, it follows rhythms ranging from sweet and caressing to the aggressive and frantic. It seems to divide fans of the genre, that is, there are those who have a predilection for scratching but hate the tapping etc; tags in the titles of the videos are helpful.The paper book in the days of youtube is demediated, downgraded to an anti-stress toy. Emptied of all contents it is loaded with sensual values ​​ranging from trinket for babies and sexual fetish, and performed by mothers/dominatrix/handmodels.
(Bibliography)The video playlist is a mirror image of a widespread bibliography coming from the bookshelves of youtube users. There is a kind of a-thematic leitmotiv, absolutely generalistic and utilitarian in the choice of books to perform; the books seem to have been picked because they were simply lying around. The gestures of sharp polished nails that stroke, tap and strum seemingly banal atlases, dictionaries, Bibles, legal codes and best-sellers – the protagonists in these ASMR videos selection – conjures up a enigmatic vision and an uncanny experience.
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