Daniel Cockburn’s video works deal in rhythm, language, cognitive patterns, and thought experiments. He performs himself as somewhere between fictional character and autobiography, using gesture, repetition, and a heady quantity of voiceover, in an attempt to detail — in an obsessive, overanalytical, and possibly unhealthy manner – the shape of thought. If his videos set themselves impossible cognitive tasks, they gamely document the traces of their failure.

The thought-shapes in Cockburn’s work are often in relation to pop culture, especially cinema; his work has a love-hate relation with movies (Hollywood and otherwise), craving and envying their power while simultaneously critiquing their more shadowy ideological aspects. Daniel Cockburn strives to engage audiences with his work, often via humour. Bergson called humour “something mechanical encrusted upon the living”. Being human these days means embodying this mechanical/living tension. His work aims to delve into this tension in a humorous, unsettling way. In his 2015 EMARE residency Daniel Cockburn will research, create, and present an hour-long lecture-performance at IMPAKT Headquarters (Lauwerecht 10, Utrecht) on Tuesday May 26, by the title “All The Mistakes I’ve Made, part 2 (how not to watch a film)”.

The European Media Arts Residency Exchange (EMAN/EMARE 2014-2015), a collaborative project with Werkleitz Gesellschaft (Halle, Germany), Bandits-Mages (Bourges, France) & FACT (Liverpool, England) and IMPAKT, is generously supported by the EU Culture Programme. Check out the activities of EMARE here: http://emare.eu/