Collusion consists of a full wall projection of industrial expulsions that have been time-manipulated so that the vents seem to be sucking in the smoke in rhythmic breaths. Large amounts of smoke are drawn from the sky followed by a pause and small release before another inhalation begins. The sounds of machinery quickly take on a natural cadence that compels the viewer to breath with the factory. Just when all the smoke seems to have been withdrawn, more materializes from the blue sky in a never-ending deluge. As an enveloping installation, a connection is quickly made between the breathing of the viewer and the piece. It speaks not only of hope and hopelessness but control and our own complicity in what is happening to the world around us.
Collusion, 2003 – 20 mins
with sound design by George Cicci
Christopher Coleman – Denver Colorado
17 Days Video Series 
makes you think about what you’re really being exposed to by stepping outside to take a “breath of fresh air” with all that we spill out into the atmosphere and into the earth it all ends up back into our bodies, then we wonder why we develop such unnatural illnesses.
We live in the belly of a great beast and this machine is alive and breathing. Are we it’s parts, gears, or it’s drones? Are we really undercutting our biosphere by spilling toxins into the air we breathe? Can this really be the height of “civilization?”
i really thought that the breathing aspect to the film was really interesting looking at the cars in the background when they would back up and it really threw me off from the breathing i ddid like it much more when i saw it from further away i got a real surreal feeling from the whole thing.
This video is very powerful. When I watch this I picture this in a “Big Brother” movie. Watching this on the large LCD screen, begins to take control over me. I can’t look away and of course it controls my breathing rate.
This video really hits a note with me. I find myself breathing along with the the breathing sound. It not only makes me think of what I’m breathing in and exhaling out, but also the rhythm of nature. This video has an almost meditative aspect to it, where I can watch it over and over.
this video has the ability to control my breathing, in the sense that i begin to panic. i always find it amazing when a piece of art alters my state of physical feeling.
The breathing effect presented in the video was interesting, but it didn’t really have much of an effect on me, which seemed to be a large part of the presentation. I was more than a little confused about the message that was trying to be conveyed; it’s an interesting message, and the presentation was unique if not entirely effective.
I immediately thought of how great it would be if we had factories which could suck in all the pollution we put into the air. We could then feel better about the environment. The video isn’t reality, but I get the feeling the artist wants us to understand we would never run out of pollution if it were put in reverse. Will there ever be an end with it in forward motion as it truly is in reality? The earth is fairly large; will we run out of room to put it? But of course with more people, we can breathe it all in and enjoy a polluted world.
A giant air purifier.. that would be awesome. I find breathing can become a rhythmic action especially when its an action most people do not think about on a consecutive basis. Good use of audio
It is always interesting when a piece can take something wholly synthetic and entirely man-made — a steel laden symbol of mankind’s industrial expansion, and break it down with a touch of organic simplicity. Altering the consistent flow of pollutants into a human-like breathing pattern allows the viewer to experience the role of man within nature in a different light.