Date: 6 November 2007 | Season: Chris Welsby | Tags: Chris Welsby, exhibition, Systems of Nature
SYSTEMS OF NATURE: RECENT INSTALLATIONS BY CHRIS WELSBY
6 November – 13 December 2007
London Central Saint Martins College Lethaby Gallery
The exhibition Systems of Nature presents two recent installations by Chris Welsby, a British artist who uses moving image technology to explore the representation of nature, the passing of time and the forces of the weather in relation to the filming process.
Welsby became known as one of the key figures of British artists’ film through celebrated works such as River Yar (1972, in collaboration with William Raban) and Seven Days (1974). In his early films he applied techniques such as using the power of the wind to control camera movement (Wind Vane, 1972) and to alter shutter speed (Anemometer, 1974). More recently, digital technology has enabled Welsby to create increasingly complex installation work.
In Lost Lake #2 (2005) an image of a lake is projected from above onto a raised surface. At times it appears as a motionless mirror image. As the surface of the lake becomes agitated, ripples move faster and the compression of the digital image pixellates the natural diffraction effect of the water.
“Nature, as represented by the lake, is not seen to be separate from the technology that produces it. The viewer is invited to contemplate a model in which nature and technology are seen to be one and the same thing, inextricably bound together in a playful dance of colour and light.” (Chris Welsby)
Disruption of water’s natural course is also at the core of the second work, At Sea (2003), in which four large screens present an apparently naturalistic representation of a seascape. Sustained viewing reveals the image to be four different shots arranged to create a projected panorama. The immersive character of this installation evokes a real sense of looking out at sea, but also points to the perceptual limits we encounter when we try and ‘see’ the enormity of the ocean.
“While half seen objects hover on the threshold of visibility, viewers are invited to consider their own role in the construction of a fiction, a seascape that only exists in the moment of the projection event.” (Chris Welsby)
On Thursday 8 November at 6pm, the history and practice of multi-screen projection in artists’ film and video will be explored in a discussion between Chris Welsby and William Raban. The event will include a rare presentation of Raban and Welsby’s twin-screen film River Yar (1972).
The exhibition is also complemented by Systems of Nature screenings at BFI Southbank from 7-10 November, featuring Chris Welsby’s films, an in-conversation event and two programmes of works by contemporary artists which explore similar concerns and techniques.
Chris Welsby was born in Exeter in 1948 and has lived in Canada since 1989, where he is currently a Professor of Fine Art at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Systems of Nature is Welsby’s first solo exhibition in Britain since 1995.
The exhibition and related events are curated by Steven Ball, Mark Webber and Maxa Zoller for the British Artists’ Film and Video Study Collection at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
PROGRAMME NOTES
SYSTEMS OF NATURE: RECENT INSTALLATIONS BY CHRIS WELSBY
6 November – 13 December 2007
London Central Saint Martins College Lethaby Gallery
LOST LAKE #2
Chris Welsby, UK-Canada, 2005, video installation, colour, sound, loop
The imagery comprises a series of eight, three-minute takes, all shot at the same oblique angle to the surface of a small alpine lake. The water surface fills the frame. A constantly changing pattern of ripples plays across the water surface, which reflects an inverted image of trees and rocks on the opposite shore. The eight three-minute takes, recorded over a period of several hours, depict the complex variations in the water surface as the breeze rises and falls. The image of the lake is projected, via a surface silvered mirror, onto a horizontal screen measuring approximately 10ft x 9ft and raised about 18 inches above the gallery floor. Seen from a distance, the surface of the water appears to be miraculously suspended in mid air. Close up, the raised screen gives the water the appearance of having depth. (Chris Welsby)
AT SEA
Chris Welsby, UK-Canada, 2003, 4 channel video installation, colour, sound, loop
A number of video shots of the coast of British Columbia are projected side by side to form a single, continuous moving image. This image contains elements such as ships, buoys, floating driftwood, tree covered islets, sea birds, open ocean, and drifting fog banks. The dominant colour is grey; grey infused with a multitude of ocean blues and greens. The overall feel is somber and mysterious; a study of winter light falling on the surface of water and cloud; an evocative portrait of the Pacific North West. (Chris Welsby)
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Date: 7 November 2007 | Season: Chris Welsby | Tags: Chris Welsby, exhibition, Systems of Nature
CHRIS WELSBY: SYSTEMS OF NATURE
7 – 10 November 2007
London BFI Southbank
This series of programmes begins with a retrospective of single screen 16mm films by Chris Welsby a British artist whose work explores the representation of nature, the passing of time and the forces of the weather in relation to the filming process.
In my work the mechanics of film and video interact with the landscape in such a way that elemental processes – such as changes in light, the rise and fall of tide or changes in wind direction – are given the space and time to participate in the process of representation.
(Chris Welsby)
The Chris Welsby presentations are complemented by two programmes of recent film, video and digital media, which extend and expand upon Welsby’s subjects and processes, concerned as they are with a variety of landscapes and the ‘natural world’ in relation to technology. These processes take a number of forms and techniques such as time-lapse in the work of Emily Richardson and Jeanne Liotta through to more recent experiments such as Semiconductor’s digital constructions of imaginary weather systems and Susan Collins’ real-time pixel fragmentation of the landscape. A conversation event with Chris Welsby, Catherine Elwes and William Fowler will concentrate on seascapes in the moving image.
Chris Welsby has been exhibiting work since 1969. He is renowned as a landscape artist and pioneer of moving image installations. These screenings accompany the exhibition “Systems of Nature” at the Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (6 November – 13 December 2007), which presents two of Welsby’s most recent installations for the first time in the UK.
Curated by Steven Ball, Mark Webber and Maxa Zoller for the British Artists’ Film and Video Study Collection at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
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