Plinths: Cut-up
24– 26 February 2006
Red Gallery, Hull - UK

Over a 52 hour period from 12 noon on Friday 24th until 4pm on Sunday 26th Plinths: Cut-up existed in two states. For the first 26 hours myself and Dan Williamson were present within the space engaged in our interrelated activities, whilst for the second half the space existed as a remainder of this activity.

Using plinths found within the space, stacked to create a 4 x 4 grid in one of the three spaces at RED Gallery. This grid was then marked out in the other spaces, with each grid occupying the end wall of the space, with one grid formed from the stacked plinths whilst the other two are simply drawn onto the wall. I began by sanding off the surface of one section of a grid, creating an inequality between the three grids that necessitated this action to be mirrored in the other two spaces. As this process continued, each action required subsequent actions, until the activity is complicated by the turning over of certain plinths thus returning the area of the grid back to it’s original white. Thus creating the need to both move plinths between rooms and paint out areas that have previously been sanded down.

This movement between spaces was not free but instead followed a pre-determined timetable to create an equal presence in each of the three spaces. Whilst working in each space this process was videoed by a CCTV camera positioned on the opposite wall to the grid. Each camera ran to a VHS recorder and television where Dan manually cut-up the live video stream. This process involved recording for a pre-determined number of seconds every minute at regular intervals, delivering an unsteady time lapse of the action due to the imprecise nature of the domestic VHS recorder and the inherent inaccuracy of the person operating it.

We worked in each space for an equal amount of time over the first half of the show. The 26 hours was reduced to 9 hours of recorded footage through the cut-up process, which is split in to three 3-hour VHS tapes. During the second half of the show we were not present, deserting the space and leaving the audience an un-noticeable absence, remnants and an instant replay of the first half with each television playing a three-hour tape that continually shows our presence and work completed in each space.