Gabriel Mansfield

The Air in the Neighbouring Earth (Installation), 2015

This installation consists of a looping large scale video projection with sound, a bespoke wooden two-step stile, a framed photograph, a framed modified photocopy of text and a light trap constructed from untreated wooden panels.

The projected video vicariously follows a hooded character as they walk from one settlement to another in a single shot which lasts 24 minutes 8 seconds. The stile is constructed using a technique which has become illegitimate through new rules of public accessibility of private land. The photograph displays the newly installed metal ‘kissing-gate’ and the remains of the old wooden stile, left to rot beside the footpath. The text is a modification of the first page of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, contorted by removing words to form a narration that describes the transitional context of the installation and it’s presentational devices.

'Near... far things looked quite near.' (2015)

When interviewing Neil Armstrong in 1970 about his recent voyage to the moon, Patrick Moore stumbled: "When you were actually walking about, did you have any difficulty in distance judging? Because I think I heard you say once that near... far things looked quite near." This momentary parapraxis became the catalyst for considering a collection of works that traverse perceptions of presentation. The macro-microscopic film, the modified narration spoken by the digitally animated mask, and the physical object itself occupy the dark space, lit only by the work that it contains. The room becomes a platform caught adrift, where diverse production techniques are approached topographically. Moving images, appropriated voice and a handmade object unite to construct an arena where knowledge and imagination acquired through patience rules over immediacy.