light box images
Two large, concave-fronted light-boxes are mounted on walls at opposite extremes of the space. These units present large photographs of crowds with captions stating that one image is a celebration of the declaration of war in 1914, the other a scene on the annoucment of the Armistice which ended the same war. After digital treatment, portions of a denser tone highlight the visible faces in each crowd. The concave form of the light-boxes is derived from the notion of brackets, or parenthesis, and in keeping with this theme the rest of the installation is contained in the space between the crowd images, on a long bench.
Here, a large laboratory flask contains a mixture of fluid and hundreds of tiny fragments of photographic transparency: each one is an individual portrait extracted from one of the two crowds. Via an electric pump on a timer, this mixture is circulated around a loop of transparent plastic tubing, which passes over the focusing areas of a row of portable microfiche viewers. These devices are styled like attaché cases, with concave, silvery screens in their open lids.
When the pump stops, the flow within the tube comes to a halt, and indistinct faces appear by chance on the screens. As the pump is triggered once more, the tiny fragments of film swarm along the tube, and blurred flecks flicker backwards along the row of microfiche screens. New pieces of film are added, as the emulsion is eroded from the original fragments; at any given time in the system there are many individual portraits in various stages of decay.
Funding & exhibition information
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The version ofThe Nature of Their Joy shown here was first exhibited in Crowd Control, funded by Yorkshire & Humberside Arts Board.
Crowd Control was first presented by Site Gallery Sheffield, September 28 - November 16 1996 and toured to Street Level Glasgow and The Bonington Gallery Nottingham in 1997
Crowd Control included:
A Wave, CD audio
You Are Here beer mats
Bothered (Black Rod) installation
The Nature of Their Joy installation
The Unwritten Constitution installation
Crowd Control catalogue published by Site Gallery, with an essay by Rob Stone ISBN 1 899926 15 1
See reviews & press - Crowd Control (use sidebar titles)
