Tobias Fike And Matthew Harris, “Pushmepullyou”, 2011, 2 minutes and 35 seconds, digital video
In their collaborative video project “Pushmepullyou” (2011), Tobias Fike and Matthew Harris explore notions of identity, human relationships, and the nature of collaborations through an esoteric physical struggle. Comprised of two side-by-side close up shots, facing profiles come in and out of the screen as the artists strain themselves for reasons unknown. Provided with only the close angle and limited perspective, the audience is left with no clear answers as to what is happening and why such intense efforts are being made.
Interested in abstract narratives, where the audience must complete the story for themselves, Fike and Harris often design their projects as games in which the results are unknown even to them as they begin. Incorporating spontaneity, intuition, and chance, this approach allows the process to become more fluid like imaginative childhood play.