The start of a video I am making about the relationship between lighthouses, railways, telegraph stations, observatories and heavy industry. A story about a single place in which all of these structures have been built, demolished, moved and preserved.
Three lil film stills for new work for @seventhgallery in a few weeks. Thinking about how Hobson’s Bay on Bunurong country evolves into a networked ecosystem of signals, transport and extraction. Early colonial infrastructure like the Point Gellibrand Time Ball Tower, the old Williamstown Observatory and the Flagstaff Telegraph system laid the foundations for global flows of capital, fuel and data. The railway network is one of the only systems that remains, it carves through the site of the Altona Oil Refinery, which is currently being dismantled.
Thanks @ann_debono for taking us on an impromptu sail around Hobson’s Bay on the Enterprise, a replica of an 1830’s cargo ship maintained and sailed by volunteers. It was fascinating to see the subtle choreography of people manoeuvring endless coils of rope, the patina of stitches sprawling across sails, the mast glossy with tallow, ropes sticky with tar. Strange to look across the water to the city and its metropolis of shipping containers, oil vats, and super yacht marinas; two completely discordant temporalities.
For anyone in the South - East, an old video of mine “Cities of Glass” will be screening at @gasworkscreativeprecinct for a month or so. Thanks eternally to @josephinemead for the support 🥰
Some updates from the live feed of @oliverhullllll and my video work “Small Talk”. As the python script scrapes through online data and responds to a variety of prompts, the tone of the work has undulated and changed. Sometimes it reaches moments of poignant clarity, at other moments utter silliness and unnerving cynicism. For every image I can’t help wondering the millions of data points it referenced to generate these messages. @firstdraft_ will be running our show until 5pm Saturday the 21st March. 🌀
This Saturday at 1pm, I am doing an artists talk at @kingstonartsau , talking about the material processes of making these works and the history of telecommunications technologies - if anyone happens to be in the area hope to see you there! ❤️
