California Dreaming

Here is the performance to camera work we made. They were both shot with Gemma’s stills camera and we hope to develop these ideas into something else perhaps with a better camera and a bigger road trip. Gemma was attempting to ‘become America(n)’ by placing herself within an American landscape rather than in front of it, we were interested in the frame that is exclusive and what that means. We like the way the sound on the video sometimes infiltrates the image and betrays it. Also what it means to be an artist and a tourist and what’s the difference. As we travelled we also became aware of the American notion of wilderness and the way humans have been removed from the landscape and then only interact with it as tourists, framing the landscape in their cameras.

I was interested in the idea of a journey without a destination and the American maverick/fugitive icon, always running away from something, heading away rather than towards a destination, and how thats different to the tourist model of travelling to pre-ordained places of interest, national parks + wildernesses that exist soley as destinations. For me this tied into the desert and its role in American iconography. The myth that the desert is empty and ‘dead’ (i.e death valley). I’ve posted the crass version here because its funnier and easier to watch in one sitting. The silent version I used in the installation at Counterpulse is longer and a bit glitchy too but you can see that on our youtube channel if you like.