Contraction is a multi-channel installation that uses animated loops to examine lockdown through the individual experience of habits, obsessions and rituals.
Using the concept of repetition and difference, this non-narrative work charts the journey of precise and intentional actions into a space of uncertainty and chaos.
Through the repetition and variation of everyday actions, the familiar becomes difficult to understand. The loops overlap, contrast, correspond and finally erupt in a climax of pattern and deviation.
I wanted to examine being in a time and space where many things became unfamiliar. I started with the question ‘What did it mean to experience an event individually but also at the same time as millions of other people?’ Is there such a thing as a collective experience of distance? Because of the nature of the subject - lockdown, confinement, I felt it is important to conceive of the piece from the very beginning as an installation that allows for multiple viewpoints and shared experience.
The work is rear-projected onto a curved triptych made up of three hanging frosted polypropylene sheets. Rear projection allows the audience to move around the space and view the piece from multiple positions without interrupting the image.
The project began with interviews, was sharpened with research [reading Delueze’s ‘Repetition and Difference’ was a big input] and progressed with drawings and other media through a practice-led approach.
I used hand-drawn pencil, colour-pencil, pastel, gel-pens, digital 2D and paint on glass to animate. Projections were synced using TouchDesigner.
Animation, Direction: Lianne Milward
Sound design: Joaquin Rodriguez San Pedro
Sound mix: Joaquin Rodriguez San Pedro + Joe Hirst
Personal tutor: Céline Stolz
Technical assistance: Kevin Lee, Guy Nesfield
