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A man speaks a series of statements looking out of the screen at the viewers. He provides personal information about himself, which he hopes will maintain his imagined partner’s, friend’s or your interest. His statements reflect the central messages of informative advertising such as his principles, achievements and ambitions for the future. However, the man’s approach is enigmatic and his location seems too personal, the video also possessing an indeterminate and incidental aesthetic; this screen is now potentially taking you somewhere you don’t want to go.
Video commissioned by LUX and supported by i/o/lab, as part of a group video programme for public display screens. With acting by Guy Evans. |
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| Linking key architectural forms found in early polytheistic and contemporary capitalist cultures, an overarching narrative is organised around the symbolism of the circle, triangle and square. Here imagery of such shapes is flashed over scenes depicting the shifting power relationships and increasing fragmentation of a group speaking improvised dialogue in an artificially lit corporate room. While actions are inspired by historical and contemporary experience, temporal boundaries are blurred as the events combine to form an absurdly critical framing of contemporary life. |
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| Images of the base structures of corporate architectural developments are arranged to the rhythm of a romantic song; appearing both contrasted and underscored by their playful arrangement to the mystical and seductive fable. |
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| Short spoken vignettes depicting two women and a man in a traditional English pub, are prefaced by intertitles framing the action as a futuristic narrative of genetic modification. The video connects a suspect linearity and autocratic authorship to signs of a potentially open emotional engagement - ultimately linking a complex discursive subjectivity to a cruel, romantic ending. |
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| Footage of a progressive conversion of old farm buildings is inter-cut with images of corporate new builds, archaeological and degraded sites and natural states of the land. The soundtrack depicts a private business meeting debating the realisation of a fantasy landmark building project. The visual material – shifting between stills and self-consciously edited video - becomes problematically intertwined with the themes of the soundtrack as they extend into absurdity – seeking to raise questions about power, systems of belief and contemporary subjectivity. |
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| Combining an apparently passionate private performance with a repetitive administrative task the routines of identity protection are subverted amid a playful domestic act. |
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| A video depicting the variable continuum of states existing in the built environment, between the natural and degraded, constructed and protected. A rhythmic arrangement of apparently disparate spatial contexts seeks to reference the subjective choices underpinning the organisation of public and private property. |
Your task will fail to be realised (I'll do what I can)
Video, 8'35", 2005
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| In a performative journey around a corporate entrance space, the artist’s non-linear shifts in role subvert the expectations of the environment by descending into an apparently illogical and anarchic array of characterisations. An ambiguous and self-conscious relationship between the artist and the cameraman serves to define an increasingly choreographed reaction to the corporate context. Credits - With special thanks to Tim Judge for his camera work and performance. |
In all honesty there's nothing I'd like more
Video, 7'40", 2005
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| An exploration of the problematic social potential of a landscaped public space. The video depicts a journey around designated paths synchronised with a performed soundtrack of shifting roles. The performer creates powerful, pathetic and often absurd characterisations which refer to the uncertainty of an environment caught between function and folly. |
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| The piece represents brief actions and speech delivered across three contexts, which emphasise shifting roles, relationships and messages ranging from the bureaucratic and mundane to the personal and desiring. |
