A culmination of efforts between installation and performance artist Edward Setina and video artist Jay Sims, CONCENTRATIONS is a series of seven videos initiated in 2009 and continuing till 2014. A few initial versions of some of the videos made public appearances, with CONCENTRATIONS 3 hitting the mark at the Dallas Art Fair's Neiman Marcus windows project (2011). The entire series, despite being nascent, was exhibited at Cris Worley Fine Arts in Dallas between February 23 and March 30, 2013, accompanied by a Sims-focused artist talk and screening on March 16, 2013.
Derived from Setina's initial concepts for several performance pieces, the series is a culmination of combined artistic forces. Setina and Sims collectively nurtured and expanded upon the foundational outlines to shape the series. Following the ideation phase, Sims zeroed in on specific shots and sequences while Setina invested his talent in production design elements, resulting in intricate sets, miniatures, and props.
The shooting process depended largely on Sims' vision that propelled the series on the pragmatic groundwork. Sims cultivated each video during the shooting phase and then refining their essence extensively during the meticulous editing process. Following the culmination of editing by Sims, Setina rejoined the creative assembly line to lend audio sequences to most of the films.
Despite being intended as an ongoing effort, the CONCENTRATIONS project lost momentum after CONCENTRATIONS 4 when Sims withdrew. Setina, left to fend for himself, journeyed forth solo and veered into uncharted waters with CONCENTRATIONS 5. This version bore a distinctly different style and theme, which perhaps could be attributed to the absence of Sims' collaborative presence.
