I was raised in Vancouver, Canada.
Vancouver, in the distance
I’m interested in history at university, as well as philosophy, literature and art history. After travelling all over Europe, I moved to London and attended film school. I’m based in Shoreditch, East London but my work takes me all over the place.
Christchurch, Spitalfields
(there’s a lot of blue sky in these photos of London and Vancouver – it ain’t always so ….)
My interest in history has taken me into both documentary film-making, short films and artists’ video. Much of my work explores historical events or places.
the ringmaster (Lenin)
In 1997 I co-founded Luna Nera, an independent international collective of artists (film and video makers, photographers, installation artists and performers) who get together to explore art as site-response, making video, films, installation and live art in unusual spaces. For about 15 years my main interest has been THE CITY. My films and photos have been about urban exploration – that is, infiltrating and exploring odd, derelict or otherwise neglected urban spaces. My two major influences here are Henri Lefebvre and Gaston Bachelard. More recently my work has expanded somewhat …
Since 1997 I have worked as artist and curator of site-specific and media-art projects worldwide. In 2003 I completed an MA in Visual Culture. It was practice-based so my research included making films and intervention projects in Berlin, Weimar, St Petersburg and Zurich. The research formed the basis for the website sitespecificart.org.uk - and is being turned into a book.
As a film maker, I make and collaborate on short films and curate screenings. I write screenplays and commentary. I’m currently developing some ideas for a feature script. I’m interested in new possibilities for digital media, and digital aesthetics in film-making. I am interested in cinematography and in particular the cinematography of the “artist’s film”. I believe that we need to look towards a new kind of “art” cinema, that in the spirit of Cocteau, Derk Jarman, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Peter Greenaway and many others, reasserts art within cinema’s history and rejects being dominated by the tyrannies of both the visual arts sector and the commercial cinema.
spin - mins running time (video still)
Additionally, I write criticism of both art and media culture.
See http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/preview/528537 for a sample.
My hobbies are predictable – going to the cinema, going to exhibitions, reading, travelling and exploring derelict buildings. I dislike cooking, home decorating, sports, shopping. I can’t drive and I like ships. Enough.
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