merging territories

Phil Barber, Sarah-Jane Bellion, Sue Challis, Mark Essen, Janet Hodgson, Keir Williams

Curated by Mona Casey

merging territories, Que Club, Central Hall, Corporation Street, Birmingham, B4 6QB
10th – 21st June 2008.

merging territories, presents a diverse selection of contemporary artist video and film. The exhibition looks at the work of artists who explore the boundaries between video and the mediums of cinema, television, painting and sound and the influence on video’s development as a result of these intersections.

Sue Challis is interested in issues of identity and marginalisation and in questioning ideas of truth within the medium of documentary and news broadcasts. For merging territories we are presented with an installation sited in two rooms. The projection shows a women being interviewed about her views on the Madeline McCann story. As the interview progresses we learn about her involvement in setting up a chat-room forum in support of the McCann’s and her views and analyses of the Media’s part in the ongoing story. The work investigates the tension in the relationship between the Media and its story and the video maker and its subjects; exploring the issue of power struggles and control over those involved.

Sarah-Jane Bellion’s work incorporates her own and found texts which evoke mini fictional or non-fictional narratives. She makes painting and video works, which introduce the use of titles as a protagonist, to suggest information about the object. In the video Black Square, Bellion, comments on the end of painting as promoted by Malevich in the 70’s and struggles to find some new territory for painting to inhabit.

Phil Barber work explores the phenomenon of television and video and its ability to present illusion and simulate real–life experiences. Through screen and sculpture based installation, he investigates the nature of what is considered art and non-art, whilst also questioning the viewing experience, whether its television in an ‘at home’ situation or video in a gallery context. In Tank, Barber presents a multi-screen projection of seductive and colorful images of fish and sea-life as seen in sea-life and aquatic centers. As we look closer we see the reflections and presence of other viewers within the video.

Mark Essen’s Eternal Atlas, presents us with the mythological Atlas, the Titan, who was condemned to bearing the weight of the Heavens on his shoulders. This contemporary interpretation pokes at our societal Gods. What did Atlas stand for at the time of the Greeks? Furthermore, what could we learn from today’s media Gods.

An exploration of history, time and place are some of the concerns in Janet Hodgson’ work. Hodgson uses multi-media installation to investigate how history can be seen and understood. Re run was shot on location in the empty Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool during the process of its recent re-construction. The film is made from a collage of re-enacted chase sequences taken from feature films and cult classics of the past 100 years. Re-run presents the cast of Bluecoat staff and a professional film crew as they attempt to re-enact the action of the original films. Her work interweaves cinematic history and filmic language to create a loop of suspense filled narrative in which every one is looking and searching but never arriving.

Keir Williams combines the body and technology to create innovative performances for video and video installation. William’s work often uses technology to mediate between performers and between a viewers encounter with the work. For merging territories Williams presents a video of MC and actor Pablo Rider reciting Methodist hymns by John Wesley mixed with reggae lyrics. The sound of the voice modulated into an infra-bass and played through a large sound system, makes the words he says indistinguishable. Taking into consideration the location of this work in a former Methodist building, Williams continues to question traditional approaches to the act of making art, sound and image.

merging territories has been commissioned as part of Digital Utopia? New Generations Arts Festival 08; an annual arts event organised by Birmingham City University.