Sarah Browne & Gareth Kennedy

Ireland

This lens-based work evolved out of a response to a particular space – a deserted penguin enclosure in a south-east Asian zoo. The space was treated as a microcosm to broach wider issues of social and ecological importance, i.e. climate change. This approach is non-narrative and non-literal, and maybe slightly absurd. The simulated Antarctic environment is constructed through the crafty use of such generic modern materials as moulded concrete and swimming-pool-blue tiles. The space is now deserted, empty and hot in the absence of functioning climate controls. These were all man-made attempts to create a hospitable environment for Antarctic penguins put on display far from home in the Tropics.

This artificial space was used as a ready-made set for the two protagonists in the video (the artists) to temporarily inhabit. The absence of the penguins renders the space mute and uninteresting to the zoo-going audience. In place of their viewership is a camera that records the artists’ intervention. The camera’s relationship with the artists and their behaviours mimics surveillance and real-TV techniques. The artists periodically address the camera’s gaze as it attempts to track and interpret their location, and the shifting game of evasion and confrontation draws the camera around the space. This creates a slightly ridiculous spectacle, as the artists are stranded on the concrete island the penguins once occupied. Despite their modern enclosure, they are extremely vulnerable to the elements: weather varies between extreme sun and monsoon rain. This evokes a dialogue between the interior and exterior climates of the building and the body. There is also the suggestion that this micro-environment may represent imbalances on a larger scale.

(Text: give(a)way catalogue, 2006)