15 HAPPY ENDINGS

*in development*​

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Kevin Doyle -- artist.

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"15 Happy Endings" will be a durational installation-performance derived from the spoken dialogue in the last 15 minutes of the first 15 superhero movies in what is commonly referred to as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These 15 films have seen unprecedented success at the U.S. box office from 2008-2017 -- a period which overlaps with the financial and housing crisis in the United States, through the tenure of President Obama, and concluding with the inauguration of President Trump. These superhero movies contain surprisingly little actual dialogue in them. When dialogue does occur it takes place in terse, short sentence structures.

 

Rather than explore deconstructions of long-dead masters such as Chekhov, Ibsen, or Shakespeare -- “15 Happy Endings” focuses on what passes for the popular literature, stories, and characters of our present moment. It explores the compression and consolidation of artistic expression into narrow terms, and considers the potential impact on public discourse in American society.

 

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