Solo 18

Solo Exhibition

films, installations and
photographic prints
2018

Location:Club Solo (Breda)

32 page catalogue with essays by Steven Ball (artist, musician, researcher) and Diana Franssen (curator van Abbe Museum) available at Club Solo.

In this solo exhibition a range of films, installations and still photographs were brought together. The works were selected departing from my present enquiry into environmental art-forms and my experiments with phytochemistry, minerals and film emulsion. Additionally, work predating this enquiry was exhibited, creating a dialogue between past and present, showcasing the breadth of my practice.

The ground floor was blacked-out with fabric, resulting in a gently darkened space with daylight still seeping through the weave in tiny stabs of light. Three screens were seemingly suspended in midair by hanging light wooden boards on steel cables. On each screen moving images were projected, giving the viewer the choice to see the whole installation or focus on each of the screens separately.

On the central elongated screen the film Wilderness Series was projected, with Andrea Szigetvári's soundtrack amplified through a speaker system. On a smaller screen the film Dandelion was projected, a sequence of images made by applying dandelion leaves directly on film emulsion, activating the phytochemistry of the plant as a photographic developer. On a similar screen on the left the film Salt was projected, a sequence of images made by soaking a filmstrip in water saturated with salt.

On the stairway a still image, also originated by using water saturated with salt. This image provided a link between downstairs and upstairs. The image shows a cell-like structure, apparently in the process of dividing.



On the top floor a collection of works could be seen. An installation of a large number of film strips suspended between floor and ceiling formed the central piece. The filmstrips are manipulated with phytochemistry, showing the phytochemical traces of a range of plants. On one side the 16mm film Looking for Apoekoe was projected on tracing paper. This film is a visual diary made in the Suriname rainforest, a research project undertaken in collaboration with the local Maroon tribe. On the other side the digital film London Plane was shown on a flatscreen. The film is made by walking through London with a camera suspended on a telescopic stick, filming from the branches of the abundant Plane trees that can be found on the city's streets.

Next to the entrance a series of still photographs were displayed, again made by using the phytochemistry of dandelions. On the far end, a picture of a cannon overgrown with vegetation was exhibited. This photograph was taken during my search for traces of my uncle's presence on the small island Tarakan, north Kalimantan. The cannon was operated by him, leading to his execution by the invading Japanese army in 1942. Finally, a digitised super 8 loop shows an image of myself in a tiny mirror while pivoting with camera and mirror on the Willemsbrug in Rotterdam.

On the side of the main space, in a narrow corridor the work Fort/Vlees, another super 8 film loop was shown on a second monitor. In this work, filmic space is explored by moving through the frame in various diagonals.


Photos: Peter Cox