TheArchive: Backup

Backup video 2007 Lynn Boland wrote: "...Winger-Bearskin's three performances for Backup were each single takes. The intense expression on her face as she struggles to pick out the alto voices [of the songs Jolene, Cupid, That will be the day] contributes to a kind of deadpan humor that gives the viewer immediate entry into the work. Such access is especially useful given the eerie, dissonant nature of the music that is created through the artist's semi-aleatory process...

Our selective idolization of popular entertainers is central to the musical and visual elements of Winger-Bearskin's videos, from her choice of songs to her performance against a green chroma screen. Beyond the convenience of her own operatic vocal training, the artist performs in all of her work herself to avoid any illusion of objectivity; she is interested solely in subjective truth. Like Brecht, she wants to use "lies" to show "truth.""