Eileen Maxson I KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT (DEFINE IRONY)

Define irony with wit and panache in the time it takes for elevator doors to close. That’s how Winona Ryder’s character in the 1994 romantic comedy Reality Bites attempts to salvage a failed job interview. It’s also the task and time constraint Eileen Maxson presents to 45 unsuspecting women in this revealing, often hilarious 2015 video. Conflating VHS-quality footage, film strips, and test-pattern color bars, Maxson superimposes mediums past to suggest her own nuanced sense of the ironic. (34 mins., HD video)