Place / Non-Place

Location RED

The rich potential relations between thinking and the body, the way one person’s act can be an invitation to another’s imagination; the way every gesture can be imagined as a brief and invisible sculpture; the way walking reshapes the world by mapping it, treading paths into it, encountering it.                           Rebecca Solnit 2001. Wanderlust: a history of walking London: Verso.P276

The important thing is to be aware one exists. For three-quarters of the time during the day one forgets this truth, which surges up again as you look at houses or a red light, and you have the sensation of existing in that moment.                                                            Jean-Luc Godard quoted In Penz, Francois. and Thomas, Maureen. (eds), 1997. Cinema & Architecture, London: British Film Institute, P111

 

Location: Top Floor, Meadowmill – Formerly South Dudhope Jute Mill, West Hendersons Wynd, Old Industrial Quarter, Dundee, Scotland. 2011

RED:         Signifier of human presence – Map marker – “You are here”

This dual-screen video installation is a record of the last original, remaining floor of the Meadowmill building prior to renovation into Artist’s studios in 2011. Despite, and perhaps because of, its semi-derelict state, the video footage reveals the beauty inherent in Dundee’s Industrial Architecture - its symmetry of line, ranks of windows letting light pour onto the pattern of flagstones underfoot and the sheer grandeur of the vaulted roof and expansive scale room.

This scale is contrasted with that of the human form as we catch glimpses of the artist’s body in RED as she explores the space - her movements responding to the shapes and forms of the architecture, suggested by the exuberance of the open expanse of space or possible actions of former inhabitants and workers of the looms and spinners.

Yet despite the strength apparent in both the building’s and the body’s structure, there is a fragility and sense of loss in the peeling paint, the decaying damp walls - as well as in the skin and lines of the hand, the arm as it strives to measure itself against the rooms perspective. There is a vulnerability to the sound of the body’s breathing and footsteps within the echoing abandoned room, contrasting to the sounds of the busy city sirens and construction noises from outside.

In this exploration of the Space between Architecture and the Body, the artist hopes to question and reveal some of the Universal elements with which we make ourselves at ‘Home’. How do our own body armature, the structures we build around ourselves, as well as the emotional and historical aspects of Place interact to give us our sense of ‘Being’ in the world? Perhaps the answer lies in the Space we inhabit, falling somewhere between the Solid and the Void?

Location RED 2014

Dual Screen Video Projection. Duration 20mins, over 9 Sequences.