Catalogue > At random

Matthew Verdon

Hugelkultur

Vidéo | hdv | couleur et n&b | 9:30 | Australie, Royaume-Uni | 2013

In 1963 a spiral staircase was built in Salvador, Brazil, by the architect Lina Bo Bardi as part of the transformation of an old mill into a museum of modern art. The design of this staircase was based on a vernacular technique for making ox cart wheels. The agricultural practice of hugelkultur involves burying large pieces of old wood that rot over time and subsequently become rich fertiliser, providing enhanced growing conditions for the roots of new plantings. A spoken narrative describes the proposed renovation of an old room in need of repair into a new room of unspecified end uses. Such varying but related notions of material transformation and adaptive re-use are featured in the present work as ways of thinking about how the ?new? is produced and the relationship of such production to the already existent. Featuring filmed, found and hand drawn footage, the video is based upon the idea of a spiral staircase, this being utilised for not only its content but also its form through the structural use of evolving repetitions and loops. The work draws on plant science, architecture and speculation to arrive at a questioning of function, progress and growth.

Born: Brisbane, Australia Lives & Works: London, United Kingdom