Bedroom Makeover
Video and soundtrack in a
bedroom setting. Part of HOME (from 8-10pm) Rotherham Art
Gallery Jan-Feb 2001
If you are indeed at home between 8 and 10, the chances are you
will have caught sight of one or more of the rash of home
makeover shows currently so much in vogue; Changing Rooms, Home
Front, DIY SOS and House Doctor.
Such programs are potentially a rich source of material for
anthropological study. It isn’t necessary to delve very
deeply to uncover the thinly disguised link between the
beautification of the home and the courtship rituals of animals
and birds, which are themselves often the subject of early
evening wallpaper television, interleaving with the DIY programs.
The notion of a new kitchen or patio as a cure for a floundering
relationship is well established in the psyche of middle
England.
In these formulaic programmes, there are two more or less fixed
peaks of arousal; quite early on the star designer introduces the
chosen shades of paint, lids are teasingly eased off pots in a
wrist action that a stripper wouldn’t be ashamed of. There
follows quarter of an hour or so of frantic rubbing, stroking,
heaving and grinding until finally comes the moment of
revelation. “Open your eyes” incants smiley Carol;
the ensuing gasps and whoops of real or feigned delight
signalling the climax of the show. At this point the sublimation
of the libidinal urge into paint pots and brush strokes becomes
almost palpable.
Bedroom Makeover isolates the non-verbal lubricants from these
climactic moments and weaves them together into an ambiguous
soundtrack which accompanies a video of sensual brushwork.