Scarlet(t)

Scarlet(t) (2011) excerpt

This work uses a feature tracking algorithm to extract Scarlett Johanssen’s iconic lips from the costume drama “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. Extracting this one signifier, Scarlett’s mouth, wrenches the true subject of the movie – her lips, and their erotic juxtapositions – out of the extravagant context in which it is cushioned. The entire film, both sonically and visually, is thus in some way squeezed through it’s primary feature, the point to which our eyes are drawn: the inaccessible eroticism of the star.