Held Otherwise
Held Otherwise: One Moving Image, More Embodied Identities is a speculative digital installation exploring how identity is temporarily produced, negotiated and reconfigured through interactions between bodies, objects, clothing, digital technologies and behaviour. Rooted in posthumanism, embodied cognition and nomadic subjectivity, the work challenges identity as a fixed essence, approaching it instead as a fluid condition produced through material contact, sensory response and temporary embodiment.
The installation is structured around one shared visual event. Three physical booths face the same central screen, where a flock of sheep rapidly approaches the viewer. Each booth contains a different object: a camera, a crossbow or food. Participants enter one of the spaces and physically engage with the object while encountering the same moving image, with a digital interface guiding the interaction.
Although the visual stimulus remains constant, the object changes the participant’s bodily position, attention and possible relation to the scene. Holding a camera may produce the position of photographer or observer; a crossbow may suggest hunter, defender or protector; food may place the participant as feeder, attractor or someone attempting to escape. These identities are not assigned in advance. The same object can generate different, even contradictory, responses depending on the body that encounters it.
Held Otherwise therefore uses one moving image to produce multiple momentary identities through material mediation, turning the body, object and digital scene into a single experiential system. The work asks how readily identity can be disrupted or reconfigured by non-human matter and whether the roles we inhabit are more contingent and relational than they appear.
Bringing together fashion and textiles, moving image, digital character-making, performance and participation, Held Otherwise stages identity as something continuously negotiated between human intention, bodily experience and the things we hold.
Photographer
Object: Camera
The camera creates distance before it creates an image. When Harren holds it close to the body or raises it above her head, her gaze becomes both active and exposed. She is not only looking; she is being looked at. The photographer emerges as a figure of control, framing and self-awareness.
Protector
Object: Camera
The protector treats the camera as an archive rather than a weapon. Harren’s raised hand and seated posture suggest a body that gathers, preserves and signals.
Hunter
Object: Crossbow
The crossbow extends the body forward. Harren’s tilted torso, lifted arm and grounded stance create a figure of pursuit and precision. The hunter is not only aggressive; she is concentrated, alert and physically directed by the object she carries.
Defender
Object: Crossbow
When the crossbow moves above or across the body, it changes from a tool of attack into a structure of protection. Harren’s raised arms and exposed torso create a tension between vulnerability and resistance. The defender is formed through the body’s need to guard itself.
Escaper
Object: Food
The escaper is always in transition. On the staircase, Harren’s lifted foot, open hand and backward glance suggest a body caught between attraction and retreat. Food does not comfort this character; it becomes a lure, a risk, and a reason to move away.
Shepherd
Object: Food
The shepherd carries food as an invitation. Harren’s softer posture, lowered energy and basket gesture suggest care, guidance and negotiation with the flock.