EXHIBITION: ‘WHAT HELICOPTERS DO FOR US’
This work was shown in a solo exhibition at Bus Gallery in Melbourne, and part of a group exhibition at Firstdraft in Sydney.
> 3 cd players, 6 speakers, 3 looped compositions created to be played in unison, merging & dispersing with each other: pulses of electronic helicopters whirring into action, a succession of silences with bursts of manic violins, a seductive beat with sampled crooning phrases from Laurie Anderson such as ..."and it was sooo euphoric".
> A cheap portable silver TV (with a domed front) loops black & white flight footage accessed from cameras attached to scaled model planes.
> 3 blinding lights act as runway lights, as interrogation lights, as copter lights - attack the entrance of the room.
> Masking tape and white acrylic paint are used to create part of a wall drawing or 'score' - lines & text & numbers & markings form a cryptic rhythm.
> Headphones provide a private moment - a recorded monologue adapted from a book of pilot stories - a WW1 fighter pilot narrates his predicament as he sits in a burning cockpit and spirals earthbound. The reading was performed and recorded by myself and digitally mastered to masculinise the voice.
> A small platform sidles a corner of the room. The scenario depicts a mapped out area, a balsa wood forest and a stack of missiles lying on their sides, dramatised with shadows from the low light sources. Two speakers play electronic bird sounds every 5-10 minutes.
