Video

Supposed To

Aleesa Cohene

2006, 07:00 minutes, colour, English

TAPECODE 687.04

Supposed To examines how work in a capitalist system divides people from themselves. Work often succeeds at limiting our individual agency while paradoxically promoting individual freedom. Lack of agency breeds apathy and despondency: we feel guilty for things we didn't do, and shirk responsibility for things we made happen. Reediting sampled footage and dialogue from science fiction films, psychological thrillers and corporate training videos, Supposed To builds a hybrid narrative of characters exhausted by work, acting out, escaping conflict and misdirected blame, and ultimately returning to an inevitable deep wordless knowledge that shapes our shared reality. Supposed To questions our ontological vocation, reminding us that our destiny is still unknown.

Rental and Sales

Single Screening Rental

$168.00

Educational Purchase DVD (Bluray +$15)

$260.00

5 Year Educational Streaming License, Digital File with DVD Circulation Copy

$550.00

Gallery Exhibition and Installation, complete Media Request form for quote

Institutional Archival Acquisition, complete Media Request form for quote

Curators and programmers, please contact distribution@vtape.org to receive a login and password to preview Vtape titles online.

Screening and exhibition rentals and archival acquisitions include public performance rights; educational purchases or licenses include rights for classroom screenings and library circulation. When placing an order the customer agrees to our general online terms and conditions. Payment (or a purchase order number) and a signed licensing agreement must be received before media can be shipped to the client.

Critical Writing

The Rest is Real: Selected Video Works of Aleesa Cohene
by Lisa Steele. Toronto: Vtape, 2012.
marvelous! ruin! collapse!
by Leigh Fisher. The Dark Arts: magic + intuition (curatorial incubator 6), 2009. Toronto: Vtape, 2009.
Eyes on Toronto: Nothing equals our local perspective
by Mike Vokins. Xtra!, May 10, 2007, no. 588.