Cosmos & Compost
Winter 2023
Maxim Tur — WatchMeFuckItUp
Cosmos & Compost — Winter 2023
“Watch Me Fuck It Up” is a 4-channel video installation with a 49cc motorcycle. The four screens form a landing ramp while the bike is still in the air, implying that the bike is about to land on the ramp, but a safe landing is not guaranteed. The video shows a collage of renderings, found footage, graphics and a self-written text. The visual language I use can often be found in combination with edgy memes, anime references, tumblr-like quotes and irony, feeling like what would come out of a meat grinder if you put internet culture in it. Artist Don Elektro, for example, has called it “digital fast food”.
The development of the work “Watch Me Fuck It Up” began with intensive research into the freestyle/freeride motocross scene of the mid 90’s.
Back then there was an industry behind motocross racing, but no industry for freestyle motocross, so riders drove to the dunes of California in their spare time, just to hit big jumps for fun and out of recklessness. Not only did I feel that I could relate to the urge to do something reckless without a clear benefit, but I also had the idea that the act of jumping, the landing in particular, resonated with the way I perceived life at the time, it became a projection space for me to think and talk about severe depression, suicidality and the search for a purpose in life. The research transformed into a process of gathering and creating; gathering footage from the early days of freestyle motocross and footage from pop culture that influenced me as a kid, that has accompanied me to this day and is present in the memories I dig through, trying to find out why I feel the way I do today. Gathering my thoughts, I created short bits of text out of them, not describing the thoughts but rather joking about them, pinpointing their meaning through humoristic delivery. Creating visual bridges to connect all this to a fast-paced cacophony that reflects how painfully loud, painfully bright and painfully overwhelming it all can be.
Full Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTCmAAB_3wk
