Allow me to set the scene.
The approach to the work was odd. Walking down the hallway at the peak of the Edinburgh festival surrounded by bustling tourists, art appreciators, excited children and the general hum that comes from a busy exhibition center I could hear something sharp and electrical.
An industrial drone, crackling whips, reverberating bass.
It's source was a doorway to the left. Looking in my eyes couldn't penetrate into the darkness, unadjusted as I stood in the brightly lit corridor. It was like staring into an unexpected, noisy abyss.
It was an interesting contrast that I suppose was quite unnerving - many people walked by only taking a slight, curious glance at the source of the noise on their way to the cafe.
Occasionally strobe light flashes illuminated the room - I realised that I was looking at a small arrangement of chairs. So it lost some of sinisterness.
I'm a sucker for strange sounds, darkness and arrangements of chairs so I stepped in and took a seat.
The room was set up in a community theatre like fashion - chairs on a slight podium on one side, a safety divider and the objects - our mechanical actors.
In the center of the faux stage sat a Tesla Coil in a cage. He was our main performance piece, occasionally firing out cracks of electricity. Around the cage was a sets of smaller mechanical pieces each taking their turn to move synchronised with the distorted, booming glitch-like soundtrack. The movement of the pieces were jerky, almost uneasy or out of balance - even though these were machines the sense of fragility was apparent. Even a slight pain contrasting to the strong industrial noise and inherent strength felt from the Tesla Coil.
The lighting was focused on whichever object was moving - a spotlight and flashes of small but strong LED's.
If I wanted to apply a narrative (and I will) I'd like to imagine that I was staring into a robotic Frankenstein laboratory, the pieces a mechanical mixture of found objects, the creations given no real function - given life by a the powerful but ultimately trapped Tesla Coil.
The mad scientist absent - leaving the machines to contemplate.
In an interview with Robbie Thomson in Undercurrents Issue 3 - a Glasgow based arts zine - the interviewer proposed the idea that the technology we use today being sleek and polished yet the processes used to make them and the processes within them being reflected in this art work, in a sense dirty and noisy. Thomson more or less agreed with the sentiment adding that there is the sense of controlling these forces, once being a mystery - he mentions St Elmo's fire - now being mastered through experimentation. At least that was what I took from it.
Although I didn't exactly find his opinion in tangent with mine I like that we both came to the idea of creation being a major theme. I suppose the idea of Tesla Coil's bring forward the idea of the mad inventor, trying to control his environment, the experimentation within the unknown. Perhaps grandly - to play God.
Thomson's work reminds me of the prolific Survival Research Laboratories based in California. They create robots and essentially put on a show - a sort of display of robotic dystopia. Using the robots as a socio-political metaphor, although part of me feels they just like the idea of playing with giant flamethrowers. Although danger lurks in this practice - Mark Pauline the founder of SRL severely damaged his hand whilst working with solid rocket fuel but it did not deter him from his practice.
The question of creator and creation, the relationship we have with technology - which we grow increasingly reliant upon every day.
It is a discussion I think is worth having and a theme that I'm glad artists are pursuing in an entertaining and enjoyable way, especially ones so close to home.
I look forward to any future work from Mr Thomson and thoroughly recommend you check him out if he's nearby - if loud industrial art is your thing.
Check out Robbie Thomson at http://www.robbiethomson.co.uk/
He's also a member of the 85A collective which seems to be more music based http://www.85a.org.uk/
No comments:
Post a Comment