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. Installed at Or Gallery, curated by Reid Shier, 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 of Bowie's bespoke projector, 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. The cul-de-sac pictured deliverance would be altered and darkened into a nighttime scene for Phenotypes 2001-2004 that turned viewers are turned into night-time voyeurs, as they watch the activities of people inside their seemingly cloned suburban homes. 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.