"Dating Surveillance Project: Video Installation and Black and White Photographs by Laurie Long"
1999-09-25 until 2000-01-02
California Museum of Photography
Riverside, CA, USA United States of America

Artist Laurie Long's Dating Series investigates issues regarding the construction of female identity and the implications of female performance within societal codes. Long's Dating Series is an undercover spoof on the troubled traditions and rituals of dating. With a video camera secretly sewn into the lining of the artist's fashionable black vinyl coat, the artist/spy surveils and records the netherworld of contemporary heterosexual relationships. Sometimes advised in advance of the camera's presence (all of Long's subjects sign a release to use their image in her art work), Long's dates/subjects sit beside her in cars or across from her at restaurant tables. Seen between glasses of wine and cafe china, they squirm and entertain in self conscious attempts to impress and to discover a common ground upon which they might construct hopes for yet another date. Long's video tapes and large photographic stills are an enchanting and humorous reflection upon the moments of pain and pleasure that distinguish the divine nightmare of dating.

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