Electronic Murphy: Project Debrief

Electronic Murphy is a re-imagination of themes from Beckett's Murphy and Molloy, seen through the lens of the evolving digital revolution.

A recurring theme in Beckett's work involves the protagonist attempting to reconcile the inner/mental world of his direct personal experience with the outer/physical world. Laid-off from my art director position at Sega, in the post dotcom bubble recession, I identified a lot with Murphy. I lived in a small attic apartment, much like that Beckett describes. I spent a lot of time alone, looking for work, creating art and meditating. Murphy ties himself to a rocking chair where he meditates, allowing his mind to wander.

I took this as a point of departure, combining bits of narrative from Murphy with additional material from the author's catalogue and audio of T.S. Eliot reading Burnt Norton. I explored the pseudo-solipsistic world of computer chat rooms and even created a 3-D room composed of representations of aspects of the protagonist's psyche.
 

Multimedia Files

Electronic Murphy >>
The full, approximately eight minute, movie.

This short film became the centerpiece of my application to graduate school at Art Center where I continued to explore similar themes in different media.