We are delighted to welcome Anna Barham back to Site Gallery to present Double Screen (not quite tonight jellylike). Barham’s new 2-channel video is an exploration of the relationships between written and spoken language; words and images; subject and system; body and machine.
Developed from the research the artist undertook during her 2013 Platform residency at Site Gallery, the work starts with a simple act: the artist reading a text aloud and processing it through voice-recognition software to produce a version of the original – a ‘mis-copy’ of sounds.
Fascinated by how the words and phrases shift and morph between spoken and written forms, the new text is read and re-processed, over and over, developing a strange feedback loop between artist and machine. Through this continuous (re)production the words are set loose from their initial meaning and intention.
Whilst building on Barham’s longstanding preoccupation with language as plastic material, Double Screen marks a significant departure in her work in both scale and form. For the first time using live-action video footage mixed with animation and still images, pushed back and forth between two screens, the work investigates the image world of words. A man prepares an iridescent surface for printing, a UV ink jet printer sweeps back and forth, black ink squirts and is dispersed through water, robotic body parts move against a psychedelic background of colour.
The distinction between body and machine, the ‘real’ and the augmented, is blurred. The images and their movement form a structure for the artist’s steady, sonorous voice-over which immerses the audience in repetitions and patterns, and which as you listen longer, accumulates into a many sided and surreal ‘sense’.
Find out more about the artist’s research here
More about the artist:
Born in the UK in 1974, Barham graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 2001. She works in a variety of media, including sculpture, performance, video and drawing. Barham has exhibited internationally and within the UK.