Thursday, 2 December 2010

Jaye Ho

Here are three photos of pill box bunkers in Surrey with fireworks being set off inside the structure. I like the fact that fireworks give off the same effect as military weaponry, as well as being very decorative and frivolous. I also like the idea of the bunker being a target as opposed to being a safe haven. This idea links in with my Nesst installation in Krakow, where the video projector shoots light out of one of the gun emplacement slits. This was a collaboration with Mordant Music, where MisinforMation, Ian's commission for the BFI was projected onto a screen at the opposite end of the room. As this is a finished piece you can see more images on my website www.jayeho.com




Lastly there is a photo of my back garden during fireworks night. Nothing is set up (apart from the pumpkin) and I like this image because I realize how quirky my back garden must look to other people. It looks very much like a stage set. I took this photo right after the fireworks had gone off, hence the smoke inside the shed (which is my studio).


Images
1. Pillbox bunker fireworks no 1, 2, and 3
2. The Nesst, The Hidden at Unsound Festival Krakow
3. Fireworks night in my back garden
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. Louise Colbourne7 December 2010 at 03:01

    These are intriguing images that are quite eerie, kind of remind me of the more ominous folk traditions and strange activities from something like the Wicker Man.
    I thought this was an interesting post as it was not in the studio or work in progress as such ( but we do get an image of the studio from the outside)- but it seems as if it's the beginning of something, things are emerging, constantly becoming...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown7 December 2010 at 10:37

    I'm interested in a possible connection with the bunkers, and the arrangement of slits that you find in cinema projection rooms. The connection between the pill box as a point of projecting (bullets I guess) and that of the powerful lamps that project the image of films. Fireworks fit well between the two: fireworks are explosives and are used to create spectacles and entertainment.
    This hints at a relation to landscape; a surveyed and regulated field of view in both the pillbox and in the cinema metaphor. The other thing that these structures resemble is the Camera Obscura, again a relation to landscape. I don't feel that this is the landscape-as-subject in art, but Landscape as territory. I am curious about how the fireworks work in the pieces: they are frustrated in their flight, but also I imagine quite dangerous in the confined space.
    The first three are interesting in relation to photography in this sense as well. Something is withheld in the economy between camera, territorial survey, and projection, that creates the space of these works.
    Look forward to seeing more of you garden.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown8 December 2010 at 00:14

    Thanks for your comments.

    Louise - I'm pleased that these photos reminds you of the Wicker Man, a big influence for me are the weird neolithic structures and modern windmill farms that you suddenly come across which are equally both inspiring and terrifying.

    Sam - I've not thought too much about the cinema connection, thanks, you've given me something to think about. The landscape interests me in relation to an opposing force to man made structures. I feel like I am a kid playing with fireworks. They are also objects that fill me with delight but also slight terror (COI adverts that peppered my youth of fireworks going wrong). But I like the idea that the pillbox contains the danger, rather than being a safe haven.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)