Landscapes of Innocence and Experience

3-channel video with sounds (25 minutes)

This video explores the changes that have affected Britain economically and politically over the last three years. Shot from the passenger window of a motorhome, it documents a journey around the country during the official four-week period of campaigning for the 2010 General Election, finishing in Westminster on the morning of 7^th May, when no overall political party had formed a government. Landscapes of Innocence and Experience goes in search of incidental spaces and moments across Britain’s urban and rural landscapes set against a soundtrack of ambient noise and radio news bulletins. Juxtaposed alongside the large format landscape photographs from We English and The Election Project, the film explores our new predicament in this era of austerity and the shifting perceptions of the country’s economic and political geography, with its many anxieties; a rediscovery and revaluation of where we find ourselves today.

The title of the work is inspired by William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience. These two poetry collections were deliberately positioned and printed alongside one another, so that each was enriched by the reading of the other. Blake was exploring the ‘two contrary states of the human soul’ here, the exploration is applied to a nation. Britain, and its representation through landscape, remains ‘a concept of high tension.’ During the election, our landscapes were temporarily transformed, and may be permanently altered now that we face a time of so-called austerity.

The following slides show a three minute clip of the film, an installation shot from mac gallery in Birmingham and a selection of screen grabs.

nb. The film is an installation piece and when viewed in a physical space each of the three screens is projected at least 1.5 metres wide while the audio tracks are played over four speakers placed in different areas of the room.