Mineral Park Test results

by Alex Hetherington, 30 Jul 2008

The five screens for Mineral Park are rendered now. Each screen follows a corresponding path, with counterpoints, deviation, altercation to each sequence, each artists’ film: I tested the run today on the computer and watched it finally fall out of the first supposed synchronization; one screen is a slightly different length and in real-time playback the work will naturally fall out of sequence, this is the self-generating quality which underscores the whole project, a mass of interlocking materials producing outcomes which are unknown: it will also generate some very difficult experiences where random actions will occur. Lewis Holleran’s loop starts the whole thing off, while Lucy Keany’s dazzling split-screen work allows for a period of glamour and respite in a zone of noise and calamity. The thoughts of twinning run through this: the Cocteau Twins, the twin sisters with their speech-impediment imaginary language, the twin aircraft, Falkirk and San Rafael, the sports teams, Acid House music and a split-personality – and also the problem of language and interpretation, the failings of interpretation. John Sebastian Vitale’s work also twins up with my work with his thoughts on an American Voodoo, which references my Falkirk Voodoo in Meddle with the Devil, and also to Voodoo Ray (A Guy Called Gerald), which appears in the installation. The floor of the gallery will be covered in a heavy duty nylon flooring a kind of protective membrane, while the LED screen plays off numerous texts, names, titles and will gel the space when, on occasion, there is nothing on the screens. I have also the back catalogue of the Cocteau Twins in there, it may appear like a Jim Lambie style wall mounted selection or something else; the show is reminding me a sound, music and art exhibition I saw at San Diego Museum of Contemporary at La Jolla where I first came across Diane Thater’s Jump!… and as Janie says, cycles appear. That show by the way was called SOUNDWAVES: THE ART OF SAMPLING. This show is worth investigating and included some great pieces by Christian Marclay and of course Thater’s 16mm film Jump! showing differing interpretations to Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues, the only thing missing now is a group of California teens with skipping ropes and hippy t-shirts.

Just on California and memory loss (see “how my brain works”): Californian Poppy is used in the treatment of patients with memory loss and dementia, as well as people who have memory loss due to drug misuse, like ecstasy and crystal* meth. Just a thought.

More soon.

• mineral