giving up the ghost
Giving Up the Ghost is a series of videos from 2012-2014 documenting ‘mostly dead’ malls in the Midwest. The music blares, the lights are on, the walls are glossed and the floors are polished. The films slowly navigate the malls, accompanied by the very music that continues to play through the hallways. These malls preserve the illusion of functionality, even when the spaces are almost vacant. The malls endure a state of rigor mortis, a precarious state of being that occurs after death but before decay.
The series received a grant from The Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis in 2013. It has been exhibited at Free Paarking in St. Louis, MO and Trestle Projects in Brooklyn, NY.
JaNae Contag 