MOVE YOUR HEALTH
The Visual Culture exam consists in a visual research and in a video strategy proposal, built on the specificities of the brand I was assigned, that is Reebok, and on the topic I chose to build the video proposal, in my case mental health. The project, called Move Your Health, was created with the objective of elevating Reebok's communication, both in content and form, by dealing with a very important topic such as mental health, using body art as an expression of suffering.
Reebok is an established brand in the fitness and training sector, embracing a very wide target audience, from professionals to beginners. Sometimes it seems that it speaks specifically to beginners, encouraging them to follow a healthy and active lifestyle. This is why Reebok can become a promoter of movement as an escape valve, a way to get out of a situation of oppression and breathe again, freeing oneself from weights and boulders. Move Your Health, not only physical, but also mental. In the video, I imagine a sort of climax, where there is a transition from a state to another, with three phases: mean reds, re-action and breath. The first phase represents a state of malaise: the mean reds - as Audrey Hepburn said in Breakfast at Tiffany’s - “are horrible, suddently you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of“. Mean reds are moments of darkness that come suddenly, you don't know when, you don't know why. The second phase is a reaction to the state of suffering, when you begin to realise that you have to do something and become aware that it is possible to get out of that limbo of anxiety and depression. The third phase is the moment when you start breathing again, slowly, thanks to movement, that is liberating. Any kind of movement is fine: the execution is not important, but rather to let off steam and to reborn.
The final idea for the video consists in switching between scenes from the performance Personal Cuts by Sanja Ivekovič (1982) and scenes of ordinary people going from a state of suffering to a state of rebirth, thanks to movement (rubamatic). In the performance, the artist at the beginning has tights on her head that obscure her face and do not let her breathe. Slowly the tights, after several cuts with scissors, break and we can finally see the artist's face. The performance can be compared to the transition that a person makes from a state of depression to a better state. Lea Vergine, in her book Body Art and Performance. The Body as Language. from 1974, explains that artists do not just tell their stories, but reveal a condition where everyone finds themselves, an unhappiness that all human beings share. The role of the viewer becomes very important, because he/she is part of the performance itself and is forced to repeat mental experiences that he/she has already lived. It is a kind of art that has a strong psychological component, as it relates to a disease of the self.