Artist statement:
'Places I went'
Moving image projection dur. 25:00 mins
Order:
1. ‘Cycle Track,’ Riverhead Forest, Coatesville 2. ‘Gannet Track,’ Muriwai Beach, Auckland 3. Track to Hunua Falls, Hunua Regional Park 4. Waikato River bank slipway, near info centre opposite power station, Huntly.
A video-recording iPhone is duct-taped to a bicycle. Four sites acclaimed for their recreational attractions and tourism success become encountered sequentially through this alternative, improvised way of documenting the landscape. Materials that are collected from my house and garden, throwaway objects are appointed as additional limbs to alter the bike in response to the site: soup tins function as bells, Kings pot’s as seat extensions or iPhone holders, a fruit carton as a mudguard etc, held together by materials such as gaffer-tape and G-clamps.
This provisional method of construction and documentation presents selected landscapes through an exclusive perspective — one that borders experimental and pseudo-scientific fields through its nonconformity to conventional filming systems. The objects, images, maps, tools and such other ephemera in the space translate not only as project materials but also as items containing their own narratives in the space. These found materials and tools take on new forms of recognition, that of significance to the project and as a retelling of their roles via this extended life cycle.
New Zealand’s global presence for tourism presents landscape through the lens of picturesque themes. Through conservation associations such as DOC, the idea of a beautified lens is assisted through concepts of ‘land preservation and restoration’ for public recreation. A different method of viewing is offered through obstructions and subverted perspectives that the constructions of the bike offer. Thus, an independent form of research into New Zealand’s topography is set forth, creating a context where ideas of such iconised landscapes are challenged and re-observed through an altered lens.
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