Artist's Statement

Searching for the Sublime in the Realms of the Domestic
"Notions of immersive environment, literal or metaphorical, real or unreal, visible or invisible, large and small. The substance of immersion or the state of immersion. The imagined immersiveness of a domestic condition or the intellectual immersiveness of the sublime; the moment of realisation. The Alice in Wonderland moment where security is destabilised by the unknown. The infinite. "
 

Artist's Diary

As the Tanera Mor International Artists Workshop residency progresses in the first two weeks of June 2007, artists will use this web page to post work in progress, along with their thoughts about the residency.  You can communicate with the artist by using the form at the foot of this page to leave your own feedback and questions.
 
Sunday 17 June 2007

Tanera Proverb
"Where there is flashing light, there will be Mette Juul."
 
 
Saturday 16 June 2007 - Open Day

After working all morning Friday on Laphroaig Radio with no success in receiving any noise with the sheep fence antennae, I decide to raise forty metres of cable as high as possible in an attempt to gain at least some radiation noise from the aether. Following an offer of help from Chippiey Bell the boatman, we construct a bizarre looking antennae stretching across the upper section of the field that makes use of a series of ladders, poles, ropes and cable-ties. The radio itself is moved into the phone box, but unfortunately a tuneable (variable noise) signal on the copper coil is still evading us. There is however a faint crackling electrical sound that is audible, which means that the theory of picking up energy from the large antennae line is working…the universe is talking to us.
 

 
 
Thursday 14 June 2007

Taking the Queen home.

 
This morning Steve told me of a Scottish guy who had been taken to court and fined by Scottish Power for stealing their electricity. By filling his loft with copper wire, he picked up the radiation that was emanating from the cables of a nearby pylon. Making use of this electromagnetic invasion of his domestic space, he secured a free source of power to his home.

A couple of weeks ago, I read some information regarding a court-case where the British police had used infra-red technology to ‘spy’ into a suspect’s home. The householder maintained that this act was an invasion of privacy and should have required a search warrant; the court decided however, that because the infra-red radiation was moving through the walls and out of the property - where the police picked it up – that this was not an illegal intrusion.

Wondering then, if the case had been presented as one of theft, what the outcome might have been? If the electricity required to power appliances within the home is already bought by the tenant, the implication would be that the electromagnetic fields given off by these personal belongings are also be the property of the householder. Therefore within the dialogue of obscure electromagnetic boundaries, the case for the Police to defend would not be one of invasion of privacy, but perhaps one of housebreaking and theft.

 
 Wednesday 12 June 2007

 
Sunday 10 June 2007 - Blog

The ways in which mobile phone companies try to disguise their microwave communication transmitters and receivers in an attempt to ‘blend’ them into our environments, is becoming increasingly colourful. This includes bizarre fake rock formations and cactuses in disguise – a particularly contradictory choice as cactuses allegedly are said to have electromagnetic absorption qualities.

There appeared however to be a strange dichotomy arising in the mobile phone companies’ attempts to render the invisible invisible; in reality, making the invisible quite obviously visible.

It has been suggested that the use of domestic tin foil, enables electromagnetic radiations in the mobile phone hertzage range, to be reflected or deflected away from the directional flow, thus ‘blocking’ signals from reaching their destination points.

In an attempt to rectify the mobile phone empires’ camouflage dishonesty over invisibility and a pulling of the proverbial wool over our eyes, a Tin Foil Revolution may provide the forward step in re-addressing the balance between capitalist aesthetics and our right to a nature that is natural. By the creation of a worldwide electromagnetically confused sculpture park, where all the exhibits resemble the cooking stages of  the old fashioned Sunday roast, the Tin Foil Revolution would make use of the deflective qualities of this cooking, wrapping and storing material, to render the visible invisible, invisible once again.

Please do not send images of your tin foil revolution via SMS.

Lindsay Brown
June 2007
 

Thursday 7 June 2007 - Blog

When I was asked to take part in this workshop I didn’t know what to expect; the idea of having a high-powered fortnight with another nineteen potentially exuberant artists all set on working in collaboration filled me with trepidation. Although working in groups can be extremely beneficial, the end product if it is a finished artwork, can end up being a whole series of compromises where ideas have been diluted to suit the overall consensus.

After being here for almost one week however, I am starting to realise that the collaboration is not a literal one where specific artworks are made together. Through a process of social interaction and community spirit, the collaboration is one of sharing ideas, skills, resources and networks to enable individual artists the chance to research and resolve concepts for potential works. The uniqueness of the location and the loose structure of the project, is enabling this to happen, allowing the interaction and thus work to evolve at its own pace.
 

Wednesday 6 June 2007 - Blog

Up at seven thirty in the morning as usual. As Miriam (Pakistan) is asleep, I tip-toe downstairs to make a cup of tea to give her time to waken up. Chippy (Lewis) is asleep on the bed in the living room and Norman the wise is snoozing in the sun-room. It is inevitable however that the kettle wakens them up…not just because of the noise but because of the precognitive tea-sensors that Scottish men seem to have programmed into their brains. Norman (Edinburgh) asks me about the green dress I am wearing. I say it is not a dress but a goonie (nightdress in Scots) and is it inappropriate that I should be wearing it as it is over the knee? He dismisses it as frivolous. I then suggest that perhaps more men should try wearing dresses as it may look nice (perhaps then they would frivolously forget about the tea).

Seven of us decide to day-trip today, and join the crew of the visiting traditional boat for a sail to Achiltibuie. We visit the local community centre to have a cup of coffee, where Mette the Danish photographer takes around a million photographs with her four varying cameras. We then head off to Steve’s house, one of the local artists taking part in the project. He has a traditional cottage that is open plan on the inside. He has done most of the work on the cottage himself changing the entire look of the interior. We are joined at the cottage by Fabiano (Brazil), Nikolai (Trinidad) and Nicky (Scotland) who have canoed over from Tanara. The local schoolteacher Lesley also joins us to tell us about the school visit on Friday. Heading back to the boat we stock up on essential supplies such as bacon from the local shop. I buy the shop out of tin foil which I need for my art project (sorry!)

We allow the boat to drift for a wee while, to give us the experience of trying to catch fish. Nobody manages to get any apart from Saki from Japan who catches two…at least her sushi was complete. Ian Stephen the skipper of the boat explains to us the basics of sailing. Chippy the mate provides the entertainment by his ‘domestic’ squabbles with the boss. The sailing however is a team effort, Mette and Bernardo (Colombia) controlling the sail, Jimmy (Cuba), Saki, myself and Diane (a local girl) on the halliard, Steve at the front of the sail and Moira (Lewis) at the helm; we are truly an international concoction. A Cal Mac ferry passes that provides some swell fun. We stopped off the West coast of Tanera for another spot of fishing but spot a seal, so sail on. A dark brown sea bird decides to join us, but after a few missed attempts at bombardment by droppings, flies away. We detour back to Achiltibuie to drop Diane off.

Back home in Tanera the supper is waiting, with thirteen other hungry souls eager to get started.
 

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