Lisa.Erdman

New Pills for World Ills takes  the form of a live presentation by Huxor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a fictitious biomedical corporation. The satirical presentation showcases Huxor’s development of revolutionary medical treatments for ‘social ills’ of contemporary society – i.e. racial discrimination (Ethnivox®), a lack of patriotism (Patriotec®), and weakening of religious faith (Jesurex®). In the performance, I play the role of a Huxor representative, and provide an overview of Huxor’s biotech research and partnerships. The piece explores the roles   of medical authority and the aesthetics of pharmaceutical discourse.

New Pills for World Ills has been presented at:

The International Health Humanities Symposium – University of Derby, UK Helsinki Science Slam – Finland Hybrid Labs Symposium – Aalto University, Finland Lääkäripäivät National Medical Conference – Helsinki, Finland

Finnexia® is a multimedia advertisement campaign for a (fictitious) medication that helps people learn the Finnish language. The Finnexia performance intervention is meant to evoke an alternate reality that offers a space for public dialogue about cultural integration and language learning in Finland. The project also presents a satirical commentary on over-medicalization and the proliferation of pill-based treatments for human illness. Finnexia was presented in the Helsinki Railway Station as the primary artistic production of Lisa Erdman’s doctoral research. View the Finnexia medical animation and website as shown on the left.

Finnexia has been presented in the following venues:

Helsinki Central Railway Station; AMF Gallery – Aalto University; Blue Sea Film Festival – Rauma, Finland; NODE Gallery – Aalto University.

Consumerin® takes the form of a sales pitch performance for a (fictitious) medical drug that stimulates consumer behavior, in order to strengthen the economy. Through a satirical framework, the project generated public discussion about the personal impact of economic recession.

Consumerin was presented in the following locations:

Pori outdoor market square, in the Perfo2009 International Performance Festival; Pori University Consortium Researcher’s Day presentation in the Pori outdoor market square and inside Prisma Shopping Center; The Experimentality Festival at University of Lancaster, UK.

View the Consumerin performances in Pori, Finland, as presented on the left of this page.

Examination explores the dualistic nature of the patient/doctor relationship. The performance investigates how the act  of a medical examination in a clinical setting can be both intimate and alienating for the patient/subject.  During the performance, I, along with two randomly chosen audience members wear white lab coats. In a slow, deliberate manner, we approach people in the audience, silently inspecting their ears, eyes, heartbeat and lung functions. No stethoscopes or other instruments are used, other than the white lab coat. Examination has been presented in the MUU Gallery in Helsinki, Finland.

Lisa’s Finland is an introspective, melancholic video that offers observations on life in Finland from a foreigner's perspective. The poem in the video was written at the initial stages of learning the Finnish language. The words of the poem were chosen purely for their phonetic qualities, and their meanings were completely unknown to the author at the time.

Lisa’s Finland has been screened at the Kotiperfo Festival in Pori, Finland, and at the Home Sweet Home: International Performance & Video Festival at Werkstatt der Kulturen in Berlin, Germany

This performance explores the aesthetic qualities of pharmaceutical language, as found in the patient instructions within medication packages. The performance strives to embody both the authoritative and nurturing aspects of pharmaceutical interaction that occurs between patient and doctor, between the consumer and medical packaging.

In the performance, Christina Georgiou sings the melody from "Mein Mädelhat einen Rosenmun" by Johannes Brahams. In the meantime, I walk around slowly, handing out small papers to the audience that contain the words, "Take one table daily". I then place the papers on the floor in a semi-circle configuration, around the singer.

The lyrics that Christina sings along with the Brahams melody are taken from the text in the prescribing information of a package of Celexa anti-depressant medication.

One Tablet Daily was presented at the SHuSH Performance festival at Länsiasema in Helsinki, Finland, in 2011.

Worry Machine® is a performance installation that investigates notions of make-believe and pseudo science. The performative structure involves a (fictitious) research scientist who guides audience participants through a series of steps towards transforming their anxiety into a reusable energy source. The Worry Machine itself consists of an aluminum mixing bowl, hair dryer, a toy kitchen blender, and a pair of children’s spy-wear communication devices that allows a rudimentary system of transmitting (worrisome) text messages via LED headset visual displays.

Worry Machine has been presented at the Palfucon Paleofuturist Festival at the Ptarmigan Gallery in Helsinki, Finland, and at the Generator Gallery in Pori, Finland.

Vestige is a series of digital prints and an interactive animation that explores notions of womanhood in contemporary society. The images in this artwork depict scenarios of daily life in the relationship between a faceless woman and a plastic medical model of a diseased uterus.

The Vestige project was created during an artist residency at the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest. It has been exhibited in Budapest, and in the ‘Terminaali’ exhibition at Pori Regional Airport in Finland.

This project consists of a series of six fictitious medical advertisements for pharmaceutical pills that claim to cure social and political “ills”, including a lack of patriotism, racial tensions, weakening of one’s religious faith, economic recession, and homosexuality. I produced this series as a personal response to changes in U.S. domestic policy and civil liberties in the post-9/11 environment. The advertisements also present a satirical commentary on the overmedicalization of society.

Pharmaceuticals for the 21st Century has been exhibited in venues worldwide, including the SIGGRAPH Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Boston; The Houston International Film Festival; Cine Estudiantil Latino in Ensenada, Mexico, The Melvin Art Gallery in Lakeland, Florida, and Gallery Pushkinaya 10 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Pharmaceuticals for the 21st Century was produced at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Graphic production assistance: Mattias Nilsson. 3D visualization: Shaun Foster. Curating support: Dr. James Rogers.

The Ethnimage® 5-Day Identity Plan  is a multimedia advertisement for a (fictitious) self-help product that can change your ethnic and racial identity in only five days.

Presented in the format of a video infomercial and a live sales presentation, Ethnimage questions the meaning of race, culture and ethnicity in the United States. The concept of Ethnimage grew out of my desire to explore my own Dominican-American heritage. The live performance consisted of a sales pitch, a raffle ‘lottery’ drawing, audience interviews, and the racial transformation of a live audience member! Ethnimage  was created as my Master’s thesis production in the Integrated Electronic Arts Program  at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

< Watch the Ethnimage infomercial video, as presented on the left

Ethnimage has been performed in front of Macy’s Department Store at theCrossgates Shopping Center in Troy, New York, and at the Princess Quay Shopping Center as part of the Root ´98 Festival in Hull, UK.

The Ethnimage informercial video has been screened in the following venues:

• tRACE: A Multidisciplinary Project – Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
• Exhibit A – University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. 
• Festival Cine Latino – Victoria Theater, San Francisco, CA. 
• Performance Margins: Sites of Resistance – Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois.
• Cine Estudiantil International Film Festival – Enseñada and Mexicali, Mexico. 
• SIGGRAPH ’97: International Computer Graphics Conference – Chicago, Illinois.

The Mandarin Project was conceptualized during an artist residency at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing. Through visual, narrative and auditory layering, the video project explores the phonetic sounds of the Mandarin language and my daily experiences as a visiting artist in Beijing. The video was created while I was learning Mandarin.

In 2007 at the Carving Center in Vermont, artists Erika Schmidt, Tara Verheide and I produced a multimedia dance performance that conveys the narrative elements from the original Mandarin Project video. Some of the choreography recreates the structure of a classroom setting that references my experience of language-learning in Beijing.