deliverance (1998)




                                                                                                                    film looping mechanism, detail of neck-rubbing gesture

In deliverance, a 360 degree projection of a new cul-de-sac development envelops the viewer. This anthropocentrist realm bereft of flora and fauna is superimposed with images such as leaves from absent trees or obsessively gesturing individuals. These images, printed onto lengths of film, are looped on an outer drum, their entire length visible and incrementally positioned in front of lenses as the drum turns. A computer controls three drum speeds so that the illusion of movement fluctuates: between a facsimile of slow motion film and a slow, incremental succession of stills. The loops in deliverance present temporal rifts beyond the repetitive structure of looping. Different frames from the same loop are projected onto different sectors of the room so that, the viewer can simultaneously observe past, present and future segments of a gesture. see essay deliverance, by Deanne Achong, Exhibition Essay, 1998 OR Gallery Monograph.

This installation is flanked by numb, a real-time, 45 minute commute from a downtown parkade to the cul-de-sac featured in deliverance and back again. numb is projected on the wall outside the deliverance installation at the actual size of the car wind shield.



(excerpt)
numb (1998)

numb is a commute from a downtown Vancouver parkade to a new cul-de-sac development in the suburb of Coquitlam*, (a 40 minute drive from the city). The vehicle loops around the cul-de-sac and returns to the city. numb was realized as a single, continuous shot in real time. Thus the viewer is placed into the temporal flow of this monotonous routine. The dominant architectural feature of the new homes traveled to and from, is the double garage. The commute is much like the experience of watching TV: sooner or later one succumbs to the persistant hypnotic quality of the experience and lapses into a numb passivity. numb chronicles the ubiquitous, insular experience (in Vancouver and other cities) of commuting between the familiarity of work and the predictability of home.

* This fairly average commute accounts for between 450 and 550 hours of the individuals time per year.



all rights reserved/copyright fiona bowie 2023
All images, sound and text are the exclusive copyright of the artist and may not be used or duplicated without the expressed permission of the artist.
This work was created on the unceded territories of the Kwikwetl'em nation,(colonally known as Coquitlam, BC); Kwantlen nation,(Colonially known as New Westminster) and in K'emk'emeláy (colonially known as Vancouver BC.),with gratitude
and acknowledgement of our host's nationhood; of their unceded, ancestral and current territories:
the Musqueam, Squamish, and Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
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