Thinking Hurts Too Much is a slowly scrolling video that incorporates found and manipulated Internet footage, creating a panoramic collage of gyrating, pulsing, and writhing characters which reveals America’s—and the world’s—desire for the sensational. The glut of disparate, disconnected, and disembodied figures; some real and some imaginary perform on layered keyhole stages, serving as a reminder of our profound knowledge of images aimed at the edge of acceptability and decency. The thousands of images pieced together become a provocative and poignant portrait of excess and the constant desire for new and more extreme visual stimulation. 

The video is an immersive experience that is constantly changing, as your eye moves from one area to the next, dancing across the screen that never stops moving. In this way, the artist envelops the viewer in a kinetic clamor of pop culture icons, putting us on a super highway of memory, both singular and shared. In doing so, Gray makes us aware of the passage of time as we witness the reactions of other viewers standing next to us—reminding us of the separation that results from unshared memory.

Image Credit: Cameron Gray, Swiss, born 1980, Thinking Hurts Too Much, 2013, Video, monitor and media player, 38.25 x 64.75 x 3.5 inches. Museum purchase with funds from the Collection Endowment, 2013.63