We took a trip to Leeds and they were showing Mark Wallinger’s film ‘Threshold to the Kingdom’. It’s another really famous work we’ve only ever seen clips of/read about.
The video is a single shot of a pair of automatic double doors at London City Airport; this is the International Arrivals gate, the industrial threshold by which you enter the United Kingdom. Travellers walk toward the viewer, unaware they are being filmed. The video is slowed down filling their every movement with significance, the door opening as if by the hand of God, a feeling which is accentuated by the soundtrack of choice being a haunting hymn Miserere Mei, Deus by Allegri. It’s very soothing and even though it’s slow, it’s very watchable. It definitely makes us think about the Love Actually opening scene with Hugh Grant’s monologue about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport…wonder if any lawyers were involved in that.
We also dropped into the Tetley which has a solo show by Simeon Barclay, an exhibition about research into dance. The content itself wasn’t something that interested us hugely but there was an element that we enjoyed. A lot of the spaces were blocked off by fencing, meaning that we could see into the space, but were not accessible, so what was on show was therefore very controlled.
The new Black Mirror is out at last! As storytelling, ‘Bandersnatch’ falls a little short of the best Black Mirror episodes. We were a little underwhelmed by the narrative but with respect to the viewing experience, it’s a great way to spend a couple of hours. We also really enjoyed the meta nature of the story; the structure of the story and how it’s told, is in direct correlation with the story itself. We know it’s very on-the-nose and not to everyone’s taste but we’re a sucker for that stuff.
Finally, some great news! We got the exhibition in Cyprus so we can start making the new video. Next week’s going to be all research and script writing which is all very exciting. Updates coming soon.