Inscriptions (One Here Now) takes the location of a working limestone quarry and, through a combination of slow motion drone footage and computer generated imagery, transforms it into a site of dreamlike theatricality. The film is built around a series of extended shots, tracking the walls of exposed rock. Deliberately framed to disorientate, these images trace the deep-time of geological sequences as they overlap with sprayed industrial codes and the scars left by machinery on the rock surfaces. These long tracks are punctuated by interior scenes, filmed within the quarry’s empty factory and rendered as a series of unlikely stage-sets. Integral to the work is Susan Stenger’s layered soundtrack, which was developed from a study of the patterns of Morse code and the traditional tunes and phrases of Irish keening.
The film was commissioned by Miranda Driscoll as part of One Here Now: The Brian O'Doherty/Patrick Ireland Project. This multi-disciplinary programme centred around the restoration of an abstract wall painting, originally created in 1996 by the artist Brian O'Doherty for Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, Ireland. The film Inscriptions (One Here Now) obliquely references O’Doherty’s compositional elements and draws on the multilayered contemplation of place, time and inscription found within his work.
Single channel film, colour, sound, 14:45mins, 2018
Excerpt