Anchored State

Creator:

Hartney, Mick

Contributor(s):

  • Philippa Brown

  • This work is part of the rewind archive.

    Duration: 5m 35s

    Year: 1980

    Original formats:

    1" SMPTE Type C

    Media types:

    Video

    Type of work:

    Single Screen

    Funding source: Self

    First exhibited: 1980 Video Artists on Tour

    Technical details: Shooting format 1/2" EIAJ, edited and mastered on 1" type C. Used matting process.

    “On 21st January 1980 word spread around Brighton that a fairly large boat had been grounded on the beach near the palace pier. The art college is only a few minutes from the beach so it was fairly inevitable that I would grab a portapack and head in that direction. A crowd had already gathered and many of them like me were there to record the event, mainly with still cameras. The rescue services were doing what they could and no one’s life seemed in peril so I recorded for about half and hour and then went back to work. Later looking at the footage, it seemed to me that something could be made of it by isolating various elements in the image and depicting them at different speeds. The boat itself was the slowest, bucking and rearing like some Kraken, set against this was the regular rhythm of the waves, and the varied percussion of the observers moving into and out of shot. It seemed logical, everytime someone lifted a camera to freeze that particular figure. I added a slight colour coding to distinguish the different speeds of movement, and manipulated the sound of the sea so that without ceasing to be recognisable as the sound of water it also suggested a heart gradually failing.” Mick Hartney, March 2008

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