Captive Audience stars Anna Grahm, a fictional character as Disney songstress extraordinaire — she only sings Disney songs — singing When You Wish Upon a Star while hanging upside down in a straitjacket above a star-shaped construction. After the third loop through the song, she makes a wish by dropping a coin from her mouth into the star below.
Anna Grahm is the star turned on its' head, an anonymous star, a chrysalis, an impersonator or a female impersonating a female impersonator. She is a persona as caricature of persona. Like the great escape artist, Houdini, she's a sort of Nietzschean “uberfrau,” overcoming enormous obstacles or constraints to perform what seems like the impossible. You can read an interview with Anna Grahm
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"Captive Audience" (exterior view from above), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view from above), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (exterior view), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (interior view from above), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photographs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (interior view from above), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photographs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.
"Captive Audience" (detail of monitor), 1995-96, 320 stretched canvases, video, rope, photogaphs and text, 6'5" x 24' in diameter.