aerial view 1998

tier garten, berlin
organised by unwahr bureau, berlin
curated by marcel hager

Aerial View is project made specifically for the bungalow in Berlin's' Tier Garten, a large park in the centre of Berlin. The installation is a speculative exploration of two apparently different, but monumental buildings. One is Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, an opulent palace the specific roles of monument and witness of history being no doubt part of the original brief. The other is Ewarts Mill, a utilitarian monument to industry that was once an integral part of Belfasts' economy.

Both places are treated in a speculative manner in that I had not seen Charlottenburg at the time of making this work, and that Ewarts Mill was demolished in December 1997 to make way for a shopping development. This resulted in the work being made via a form of speculation and a type of memory.

Both sets of plans used are basement plans describing parts of ' public' buildings not normally seen by the public, however both sets are illustrative of the nature of the buildings involved. These plans are denoted by plaster casts of utilitarian objects (drains etc.) laid out on beds of grass.

The accompanying videos documentary in nature, consisting of clips of my making the moulds and maintaining plants in the studio,( analogous with maintaining an organic element to the work). These images are intercepted with stills of industrial landscape which includes the Ewarts Mill site, taken out my studio windows. The work aims to create a series of vistas that are conducive to opening up debate on the functions and roles of buildings in a social context.