VOICE, A PERFORMANCE ART MOVIE is a 159 minute movie about Psyche Smith, a bipolar woman whose psychoses begin traveling in outer space just as she enters therapy. VOICE was shot splitscreen/greenscreen with one actress playing all three characters. This is a marriage of video art, performance art and experimental film. The world of VOICE is composed of original montages incorporating NASA footage, anatomical diagrams of the Human nervous system and documentary-style outdoor footage. Psyche’s therapy sessions are portrayed through monologues given directly through “the Fourth Wall” to the camera. VOICE is not an autobiographical downer confessional about bipolar disorder. VOICE is about the infinity of freedom and joy that one can achieve through self-discovery and following his/her bliss. VOICE was an official selection of Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival, 2017, and received an Honorable Mention from LA Underground Film Forum in 2016. Since 2015, VOICE festival cuttings have screened in venues and festivals around the world – London, Marrakech, Berlin, Barcelona, Milan – including VisualContainer TV, HearteartH Project, International Video Art Exchange Program, and CM Projects’ Chemcraft Exhibit. Most recently (2017), VOICE FESTIVAL CUTTING 3 was selected by Underground FilmFest and Black Underground FilmFest, and given an Honorable Mention nod by Experimental Film Forum (Los Angeles). I made this movie all by myself in my livingroom except for 2 follow shots by my husband. I created the montages. I created the sounds using my own voice and everyday sounds in my environment. There are 62 teasers in a YouTube playlist (http://bit.ly/2icrCVw).
Since 2006, I have made experimental moving art that is a hybrid of performance, theater, and video art. My work has regularly been selected by arts, video art, and film festivals since 2008. Since 2014, I have received several invitations to exhibit per year from curators – among others, Time Is Love, Kisito Assagni curator, 2014; Human Emotion Project, Alison Williams curator, 2014; CM Projects, William Esdale curator, 2015; HearteartH, Sonia Laura/Maria Korporal curators, 2015-2017; Art Web Gallery, Paola Zucchelli curator; The Democracy Scrabble Project, Joas Nebe curator, 2017. My film, “before chill,” received an Honorable Mention for Cinematography in the 2016 Creative Arts Film Festival. I received a Grand Jury Award in the May 2016 L.A. Neo Noir Film Festival for the writing and acting in my films, “Indigo Lady” and “Killer Jane.” My experimental feature film, “VOICE, a performance art movie,” was selected for Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival, Munich Underground FilmFest and Black Underground FilmFest; and received Honorable Mentions from L.A. Underground Film Forum and Experimental Film Forum.
Artist’s Website: www.youtube.com/user/SylviaToyStLouis