Lipsync National Anthem

Synopsis: In the video and performance Lip-sync National Anthem, the futile effort of learning to lip-sync different languages highlights the superficial elements in cultural assimilation, and ineffective methods for measuring personal success.

Description: A student is staged in classrooms of different countries, shuffling large stacks of flash cards in effort to mimic, memorize, and use repeated drills to master her task. In the first part of the video, the student goes through the process of transcribing every second of lip movement into individual index cards, unconscious to the fact that by breaking sentences down to a series of muscle movements and re-performing it, she had already lost sight of the subject matter that she is trying to convey. The title suggests that she is trying to learn an anthem, but the question of whose lip motion, whose ideas the student is reciting, remains open to question. Furthermore, the treatment of lighting in the video and student’s overall indistinct appearance suppresses her individual identity. Audiences have to rely solely on the student’s motions, along with the classroom setting she is in, to bring the silent video to effect. The large desk lamp is turned to face the camera, shifting the spotlight from the performer to the audience.