Disrupted Expectations 4: Art, Words, and Mind Powers

What a double bill! For those of you who have not read my piece on Disrupted Expectation 3, please do so for some much-needed context before the following...

Alrighty, let’s talk about Disrupted Expectations 4: Art, Words, and Mind Powers. This particular entry into the franchise begins with our protagonist addressing people off-screen who are neither seen nor really there. This establishes a fresh idiosyncrasy that was teased in the last film: we know, obviously, that no person is anywhere near this man, and yet he insists to state awkwardly “Everybody - I need your help with this” or “Ah! We have another question, thank you.”

The intent, of course, is to persuade me (the actual spectator) that he is somebody whom people take seriously; however, in reality, it just makes him seem evermore unhinged. Is this in any way an entertaining element? - who knows. It’s for you to decide, dear audience, and that’s the magic of Disrupted Expectations 4: Art, Words, and Mind Powers.

Allow us to discuss some positives. There’s a genuinely interesting moment early on in which he discusses a Columbian work of art depicting a squirrel, pointing out how a more abstract, geometrical approach has been taken (it sounds almost genuine). Later on, he talks about perspective and the role of artificiality in art, and that’s relatively interesting. And at one point, he actually goes outside which is a valuable change of scene!

One of the more dynamic moments in the picture comes when our guy pretends to be on a phone call. Whilst it lasts for an excruciatingly long time, it’s some of his better acting and provides another layer of whimsy to this utter nightmare. It is also in this moment that the nicest shot in either film takes place – which I have used as the image for this review – as a piece of square furniture unintentionally frames his head quite pleasantly. This is also the most metatextual and, dare I say it, intelligent portion of the movie. While on the phone, he speaks of how artists wish to view themselves; he also effectively reveals the fact that this is all a scam... yeah, I don’t understand it either.

It could very well be argued that there is a unique level of discovery to these bizarre videos... Consider this, the man at no point knows what he is about to do or say – and neither do we. To persuade his ‘audience’ that he has anything of value to offer, he utilises random objects in his location. In means of pure desperation, he attempts to convince the viewer that the random items in this warehouse are “beautiful works of art” that an artist has purposefully constructed. He points to a doorknob and exclaims “why is it here?” He throws out the term “the ocean of consciousness”. Whenever a loud plane flies by, he acts as if it has a greater meaning. There’s truly nothing like this, and thankfully - unless I blacked out - there’s no cryptic hate speech in this one! These are the standards we’re working with, folks.

Now this is very important: at minute 32:50 he almost trips over and gets really scared. This is the most entertaining and emotive moment in both of these films. Following the slight scare, he explains “don’t worry, we have insurance... I apologise” - pretty funny stuff.

He states that “you must learn about this kind of advanced art” - and, y’know what, maybe I’m just a slow learner. Watching these two pieces has been an interesting exercise in analysing human behaviour and psychology; delusions and showmanship. It’s an odyssey has left me with a great many questions and conflicting thoughts, but to quote something I can actually get behind: “Being an artist like this is not easy” - well you can say that again. Thanks for reading.