Screeners
Video still
Video still
Video projection with sound | 2002 | 3:34 loop
In Screeners the figure is flanked by her electronic clones. They form a collective that rides over the landscape, replicating at will. The work builds on satellite images of the Sierra Nevada mountain range produced with remote-sensing data collected by the United States Geological Survey, which the artist has manipulated so as to resemble the Arctic landscape—the place whose reach signaled earth’s total conquest. As satellite mapping and imaging technologies appear to shrink the physical space of the planet, digital space is produced in excess to host images that serve as its virtual substitute. This overabundance also finds a parallel in the notion of group identity, which Marsh addresses by rendering the inhabitants of this Arctic space as a swarm-like army. Projected, the video takes us through an immersive sequence peopled by three configurations: investigative “scouts,” racing ahead of the main body, conveying speed and intention; the core group, ominous in their presence and numbers, and strict in their choreography; and the “stragglers” who lag behind, creating a space to play or act out before falling back into the fold. In this, Screeners invites us to critically examine conformity.
Credits
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Performer:
Lynne Marsh -
Camera:
Bruno Martel -
Sound design:
Aidan Love and Sasha Dieu -
Image source:
NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and United States Geographical Survey -
Funding:
Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Canada Council for the Arts, and University of Gloucestershire
Related Texts
Landscape Immersion: Lynne Marsh’s Performative Spaces
Author: Johanne Slone
Art Papers, 2006
Video still
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2006
Next Level
Kustverein Wolfburg
Wolfburg, Germany
Exhibition
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2003
Family Business
Pitzhanger Manor House Gallery
London
Exhibition
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2002
Screeners
Prema Arts Centre
Gloucester, UK
Exhibition
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2007
Mind Hacking II
Kunstakademie Müenster, Müenster, Germany; Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart
Screening
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2003
New Territories International Festival of Live Art
The Arches Theatre
Glasgow
Exhibition
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Collections
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Canada
Screening
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Collections
Private collection, London
Exhibition