In the galleries this July are four separate exhibitions. Rozalind Drummond shows the viewer photographic images of her world. Megan Evans presents staged vignetted scenes. Janine Randerson uses video projection to display a narrative of cityscapes. Natalie Bookchin brings two computer based projects to the visitor.
Gallery One
Rozalind Drummond. This Summer
This Summer is a group of photographs that gives glimpses into a coherent picture of the artists private world: houses, buildings, natural landscapes. The conception of these subjects is low-key, not unlike snapshots which have captured momentary situations by chance. Resembling photographs from an album we observe the experiences of an individual standing just here and looking there. On closer scrutiny one notices that these pictures are calculated and staged.
(Emily Walker-Arnot, 2001)
Gallery Two
Megan Evans. Sleepwalker
Sleepwalker explores Virtual Reality technology in relation to art historical and philosophical debates on the nature of the real. Evans produces constructed scenes that are viewed using stereoscopic devices. Here, she stills the viewers gaze, inviting contemplation of the frozen scene. Presenting backstage or behind the scenes tableaus, these virtual dioramas present a third dimensional visual space which references the conceptual aesthetic of Northern Renaissance Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck. These miniature vignettes are counterposed by an accompanying video installation which takes the form of a large over-scaled bed in which a restless body tosses and turns. Present only by its impression on the surface of the bed, this body represents a sleepwalker in the virtual domain.
Supported by Herman Projection Screen Technology
Helen Schutt Project Space
Janine Randerson. Sky Views
In an era where the construction of soaring towers and skyscrapers is routinely understood as a measure of success, Randerson asks: is the longing for disaster just an idle thought or a collective fantasyNULL The view from Aucklands Sky Tower revolves with seamless regularity. In this glass and concrete cloister however the final moment forecast by Nostradamus looms ever closer. Sky Views employs video projection and soundscape to build a slowly circling narrative. The end is nigh and from here you can get a great view.
Sound mastering at NANA Studios by Jason Johnston and Nick Farrrands.
e-Media Gallery
Natalie Bookchin. Databank of the Everyday and The Intruder
A stockhouse of gestures, routines and habits, Natalie Bookchins classic CD-ROM Databank Of The Everyday addresses the death of photography in the electronic age, fusing the computer database with a stock photography catalogue. Manifesto in style, its subject is the everyday use of computers in our culture - the storage, transmission and dissemination of massive bodies of information - and the impact of such usage on the human body. Launching the incorporation of net art at e-Media, Bookchins The Intruder adapts a short story by Jorge Luis Borges using the interactive strategies of early computer games such as Pong. In both projects, the computer loop represents the bodys desires, habits and compulsions.
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