trevor h smith

TREVOR H SMITH

NEU/NOW FESTIVAL PROPOSAL (not accepted)

A short description of the work/project

SHOUTING HELLO

The speed of sound at sea-level is 340.29 m/s or 768mph.

In a gesture of goodwill towards our international neighbours, I will visit the four geographical extremes (north, east, south, west) of the mainland United Kingdom, and shout ‘HELLO’ to the next landmass.  I will then wait for the length of time required for my greeting to reach that landmass (calculated according to the speed of sound at sea level) and for any response made by anyone on the corresponding coastline to reach me, plus ten seconds for them to make that response.  Details of the four recordings are as follows:

North    Location:                                          Dunnet Head, Scotland.

Next land mass:                                           Hoy, in the Orkney Isles.

Distance from Dunnet Head to Hoy:        25 miles.

Duration of film:                                          6 minutes 30 seconds. (wait: 6m10s).

East        Location:                                        Lowestoft Ness, Suffolk.

Next land mass:                                          Netherlands.

Distance from Lowestoft to Dutch coast:   237 miles.

Duration of film:                                         1 hour, 2 minutes, 30 seconds. (wait: 1h2m10s).

South    Location:                                          Lizard Point, Cornwall.

Next land mass:                                          Northern coast of Spain.

Distance from Lizard point to Spain:      450 miles.

Duration of film:                                         1 hour, 10 minutes, 50 seconds. (wait: 1h10m30s).

West     Location:                                         Corrachadh Mor, Scotland.

Next land mass:                                          Eastern coast of Canada.

Distance from Corrachadh Mor to Canada: 2300 miles

Duration of film:                                         6 hours 30 seconds. (wait: 6h10s).

An artistic statement suitable for publication

I make art as a means to explore my interest in cultural phenomena such as relationships, objects, and the social rituals of everyday life; all of which are imbued with a narrative potential, containing the possibility that a philosophy or thought may be expressed through them.  Projects often constitute performance or actions, which are documented on film, photography, or by a written account.  My conceptual framework places importance on slightness of presentation in order to focus on philosophical concepts within the work.

Technical requirements and set-up time

Four films, each playing on a loop, projected into four walls of a gallery space, or side-by-side on one long wall.

Technical requirements:

Four DVD players or other media players.

Four projectors.

Set-up time: one to two hours.

Nominated work:

This project is in progress, please see attached stills from film ‘Shouting Hello to France’ for an illustration of the appearance and incident contained within the four proposed films.