A collaborative photographic project documenting the, over-800, libraries that have closed in the UK since 2010 (under this Tory government). I will publish a list of the libraries and their, defunct, addresses, with an invitation for anyone/everyone to photograph the buildings or sites and share them with me as part of the project, as a fully credited collaborator. These images could be a series of zines, a book, a video, an exhibition, or all of them.
video
Desert Head /
A single-channel video of a head poking out of the sand in a desert landscape, the eyes are closed, framed in such a way as we can’t tell if it’s someone buried up to their neck or whether it’s a decapitated head.
The eyes dart open and we hear the head’s internal monologue, worrying over trivial and mundane aspects of everyday life - “Did I leave the gas on?!…”
At the end of the monologue the eyes close again.
My ideal ‘head’ would be the actor Paul Putner.
Champagne /
A multi-screen video (wide-screen monitors, installed portrait, to create a tall tower of screens).
On the top screen is a full-frame shot of a flute of champagne standing on a tray. The tray wobbles, causing the flute to fall from the tray.
In slow motion, the flute falls towards the floor, moving from one screen to the next, until we see the glass smash on the floor.
Once it has come to rest, the audio of a room full of people cheering plays.
The end.
Piano Squawk /
Get a pianist to write the score from a short video I have of my daughter, aged about 2-years old, randomly pressing keys on a piano in the corridor of a local arts centre and making squawking noises to listen to the echoes.
Then have that score performed by professional musicians.
Knuckleball /
Learn how to throw a knuckleball, as referred to in baseball.
“A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimise the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion.”
Luck Favours the Brave /
A single channel video/projection of a multi-multi-split-screen image containing film of matadors being gored by bulls.
Hiraeth /
A digital screen/monitor attached to a computer showing every tweet, in real time, that contains the word or hashtag ‘hiraeth’ in it.
Hiraeth is Welsh word meaning a deep longing for something, particularly one’s home.
Often described as an untranslatable word, as there is no direct translation in English, I’ve just translated it for you.
Walk on the Wild Side /
A performance, that becomes a video, of the drummer from a Mötley Crüe tribute act riding on The Scenic Railway at Margate’s ‘Dreamland’ funfair, with their drum-kit strapped onto the ride, playing along to Mötley Crüe’s song, ‘Wild Side’.
The original video for the song famously features Tommy Lee playing his drum-kit in a hydraulic, revolving, cage.
As a former resident of Margate, employee at Dreamland, and (then) aspiring rock star, this work also contains autobiographical meaning.
Burning Guitar /
An electric guitar, on a stand, plugged into an amplifier, feeding back, doused in a flammable liquid and set on fire.
This could be a performance that later becomes a video, sound work, and/or photograph.
Raining Blood /
This could either be a live performance or a video (possibly both).
At Bluestone holiday resort in Wales, they have a swimming pool with a wave machine and large water jets/fountains that spray out in an arc into the pool from a raised platform above the wave-pool.
This performance/filming would happen at night, as lighting is key to its mood.
The pool will start off in low-light-to-darkness.
A soundtrack of Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’ will play, loud, through the room.
As the track plays, white lights will flash to animate the opening drumbeats of the song.
As the opening riff of the track plays, people dressed in the clothes of heavy metal fans begin to gather on the raised platform (they’re wearing jeans, boots, band t-shirts, cut-off denim jackets with patches).
As the song fully kicks in with Tom Araya’s high pitched scream, the fountains begin spraying into the pool, lit only by red light, and the people amassed on platform begin diving off the platform into the pool, as if stage-diving at a concert.
This continues for 3m25s of the song, until it ends with a huge clap of thunder and the sound of rain.
At this point, the stage-diving stops and the red light changes to white light on the fountains for the remainder of the track (which consists of audio of thunder and rain).
Ring of Fire /
A slow-motion video of a 1970s Evel Knievel wind-up toy being jumped through the middle of a burning car tyre (set up like a flaming hoop that stunt-bikers jump their bikes through).
The video starts as a close crop, front-on, to the centre/hole of the tyre.
The tyre is doused liberally in flammable liquid and set alight.
Through the hole, in the distance, we see the toy being wound up and released, jumping through the centre of the tyre off a small ramp.
After the toy has passed through the tyre, the camera slowly pans out to show the entire burning tyre, full-frame.
For several minutes (final length to be decided in the edit) the film focuses on the burning tyre, before fading to black.