The Bigger Picture presents film & video work by artist Michael Pinsky, one of the three UK artists to have produced PANACEAHOTHOUSE, the Manchester edition of an evolving artwork due to go on exhibit at Cornerhouse, Friday 6 October 2006.
Crawl, to be exhibited on Big Screen Manchester, will also be installed and projected onto the surface of one of the recently filled pools at Manchester’s historic Victoria Baths. The work explores the social function of swimming pools. For Pinsky the swimming pool is both a public and an intimate space where, although people occupy the same immediate physical area, they exist in a different time and social framework.
Life Pulse in Orleans documents public lighting modified to react to the individual. The lampposts are programmed to respond to the human touch by emitting light at the frequency of the person’s heartbeat. With the rhythm of the city being made to follow the life of each individual, the traditional relationship between urban dwellers and their environment is inverted.
Breaking the Surface highlights how the docks in Bridgewater, historically a lifeline for the economy, now lies dormant, acting instead as a receptacle for the community’s burdensome clutter. Wreckage is brought back from the depths. The surface of the water gives the illusion of a materialised stage where they can be contemplated. Rusty, unable to recover their erstwhile functionality, they may be appreciated again. A formal, yet compelling, soundtrack originates from this aquatic world of metal. It is generated by samples from the arte-facts played as instruments.
Come Hell or High water displays the struggle of a fleet of luminescent cars as they make their way up against the savage flow of the Tyne. Only the tops of the cars remain visible to the passers-by. As they make their weary way their bright colours declare their imminent arrival by day, whilst their internal illumination reflects in the river as darkness falls. The 19th Century hailed the invention of the combustion engine freeing humankind from the tedium of river transportation. Now as the roads fill to capacity are these daring travellers re-appropriating our water based networks?
Plus, from 26 September
Lets Go Global are out and about on the weekend of 23 September filming at Victoria Baths in Manchester, as Panacea brings restorative healing powers to a building in need of regeneration at the time its centenary.
Once again it will be possible to float in the gala baths, filled with water for the first time since the building closed in 1993. Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich’s Sci Fi Hot Tub, cocoons invited participants in warmth and comfort whilst floating through sublime and potentially hostile environments.
With footage of the momentous occasion, and interviews with artists and participants, Lets Go PANACEAHOTHOUSE will be screened as part of The Bigger Picture and streamed from www.letsgoglobal.tv
If you want to get in the Sci-fi Hot Tub at Victoria Baths or require more information please contact Alison Kershaw at alison.sl-arts@good.co.uk