https://sophie-dixon.com sophie-dixon Thu, 05 Jan 2023 04:13:17 +0000 https://sophie-dixon.com en https://sophie-dixon.com/Grace Wed, 19 May 2021 11:28:03 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/Grace Grace Film, 2021, 10 minutes In 1838 Grace Darling became one of the greatest female celebrities of the Victorian era. After rescuing survivors from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire, her quiet life as a lighthouse keeper’s daughter was changed forever. Inspired by various, and often conflicting accounts, Grace is a poetic exploration of Grace Darling’s life and the impact of her fame.Commissioned by The RNLI Grace Darling Museum, Arts&amp;Heritage, and Arts Council England. Visit the website ︎ Awards / Nominations Best Short Animation, Unity Awards Nomination, 2022 Aesthetica Art Prize Finalist, 2022 Festivals, presentations and exhibitions Aesthetica Art Prize, York Art Gallery, 2022 RNLI Grace Darling Museum, 2021 CINECITY Film Festival, 2021 Open City Documentary Film Festival, 2021 Electronic Visualisation &amp; the Arts conference (EVA), 2021 Press / Text&nbsp; Observer September 2021. Amazing Grace: artist’s tribute casts new light on Victorian rescue heroine Text by Chris Sharratt Talks / Publications Grace: A virtual recreation of the Grace Darling story via Science Open Threshold Studios, Digital Democracies, 2021 <img width="1000" height="563" width_o="1000" height_o="563" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d45484913db5c555e06015551c4ea6b4adfbea588d57896a4f25a0162c335bf6/installation_view_web.jpg" data-mid="121488071" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d45484913db5c555e06015551c4ea6b4adfbea588d57896a4f25a0162c335bf6/installation_view_web.jpg" /> (Above) Installation View, RNLI Grace Darling Museum&nbsp; <img width="3840" height="2160" width_o="3840" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/13519c2f7b796b9b28005a450cd99eb60314f126d53efcb6c5db748a35481972/grace_bedroom_01_web.jpg" data-mid="113994995" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/13519c2f7b796b9b28005a450cd99eb60314f126d53efcb6c5db748a35481972/grace_bedroom_01_web.jpg" /> <img width="3840" height="2160" width_o="3840" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ebbcd701e96fda69acae92bf6569afe43a0db4e83f77bd993d8d8fc483530fab/grace_lighthouse_mainroom_web.jpg" data-mid="113994982" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ebbcd701e96fda69acae92bf6569afe43a0db4e83f77bd993d8d8fc483530fab/grace_lighthouse_mainroom_web.jpg" /> <img width="950" height="1080" width_o="950" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b1d38c8323dc7c27f61507b595892df3c23602aef762dfc4c15a592aff85b84f/hourglass-cropped-1.png" data-mid="125890842" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/950/i/b1d38c8323dc7c27f61507b595892df3c23602aef762dfc4c15a592aff85b84f/hourglass-cropped-1.png" /> <img width="950" height="1080" width_o="950" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c49070c01bfe4dd4fe16a1acb0dcdc2b7d08868385764469990ef2cd4fe89ad2/image-19.png" data-mid="125890832" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/950/i/c49070c01bfe4dd4fe16a1acb0dcdc2b7d08868385764469990ef2cd4fe89ad2/image-19.png" /> <img width="950" height="1080" width_o="950" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a19b1b69347f1cc689eccc6372799e922acff2674e9756eebb268ee5a5e0bdbd/image-45.png" data-mid="125890878" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/950/i/a19b1b69347f1cc689eccc6372799e922acff2674e9756eebb268ee5a5e0bdbd/image-45.png" /> <img width="950" height="1080" width_o="950" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b150865c2a837bc88a20212897c03cda90077421e9e1954c41e998f1a4693ac6/clock_01-1.png" data-mid="125890873" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/950/i/b150865c2a837bc88a20212897c03cda90077421e9e1954c41e998f1a4693ac6/clock_01-1.png" /> (Above) The lighthouse featured in ‘Grace’ includes digitised items from the RNLI Grace Darling Museum’s collection. It also contains a large number of 3D models created from historical research and reference images.&nbsp; <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e6c86950eaf1dbe4bf31b17f5ec58d6fc0706d9c2dd119a99032b4e556007505/grace_bedroom_02_web.jpg" data-mid="113014914" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e6c86950eaf1dbe4bf31b17f5ec58d6fc0706d9c2dd119a99032b4e556007505/grace_bedroom_02_web.jpg" /> <img width="3840" height="2160" width_o="3840" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c13e98fb33f825eddaeaf695d9f01c054b7b6df7ac5073cc949a5060116ef372/grace_toproom_02_web.jpg" data-mid="113994988" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c13e98fb33f825eddaeaf695d9f01c054b7b6df7ac5073cc949a5060116ef372/grace_toproom_02_web.jpg" /> <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ae47e93020a3bb2a05621831073b3f0bfd0eb6352a610d9ac2732fe53cd2f27c/grace_lamp_01_web.jpg" data-mid="113016358" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ae47e93020a3bb2a05621831073b3f0bfd0eb6352a610d9ac2732fe53cd2f27c/grace_lamp_01_web.jpg" /> next project ︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/Light-in-Darkness Thu, 05 Jan 2023 04:13:17 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/Light-in-Darkness Lux in Tenebris (Light in Darkness) Virtual Reality, 2023 Lux in Tenebris was developed during a two-month digital residency at the Deutsches Museum, Germany. A paper about the project and supporting research can be found here.&nbsp; “The roads by which men arrive at their insights into celestial matters seem to me almost as worthy of wonder as those matters in themselves.” — Johannes Kepler. In 1545 Nicolaus Copernicus published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, a book in which he argued the Sun, rather than the Earth, lies in the center of the solar system. This discovery directly preceded The Enlightenment or The Age of Reason in which many ideas based on tradition and religious faith were disrupted — bringing into question not just how human knowledge works but also what its limits are. Lux in Tenebris (Light in Darkness) is an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience which draws upon the Deutsche museum’s collection of astronomical models. Models which for centuries have sought to communicate, and make visible, our place in the solar system. At its center is a model designed by Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer, who used five Platonic solids - shapes with identical faces and vertices - to explain the spaces between planets that Copernicus's heliocentric theory of the universe had left a mystery. Although Kepler's model was ultimately proven inaccurate, it was a visionary model that paved the way for advances in astronomy and revealed the human process of making sense of the vast celestial unknown and the imaginative leaps required to advance our understanding of the universe. The VR experience explores modern-day parallels with advances in human knowledge facilitated by artificial intelligence (AI). Six new models have been created using text-to-image AI with source images from the Deutsche Museum's astronomical collection. These models question the potential of AI to creatively interpret gaps in our existing knowledge and challenge our preconceptions, much like Kepler's model did during The Enlightenment. Lux in Tenebris invites audiences to explore the resulting virtual space which seeks to raise questions about human knowledge, its limits, and the physical and mental models we create to help us understand our place in the world. <img width="3840" height="3840" width_o="3840" height_o="3840" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/656db44568ae1d679e1de0d7b3b7e6203caae6390af3728c3032b82de068f933/mysterium_cosmographicum_render.png" data-mid="168810778" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/656db44568ae1d679e1de0d7b3b7e6203caae6390af3728c3032b82de068f933/mysterium_cosmographicum_render.png" /> (Above) Detail of Kepler's model of the Solar System from ‘Mysterium Cosmographicum’&nbsp; <img width="960" height="943" width_o="960" height_o="943" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/09dee49de82e6f474d30b291b4f3f02df0e0b57d561f538f5fadb6720343b828/model_vs_unreal-01.png" data-mid="168811297" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/960/i/09dee49de82e6f474d30b291b4f3f02df0e0b57d561f538f5fadb6720343b828/model_vs_unreal-01.png" /> <img width="960" height="943" width_o="960" height_o="943" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/36825a75aa1e1e99db96e059da0bd084afd216bb60bf166cf25be12b263e11a8/model_vs_unreal-02.png" data-mid="168811309" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/960/i/36825a75aa1e1e99db96e059da0bd084afd216bb60bf166cf25be12b263e11a8/model_vs_unreal-02.png" /> (Above): Example of an image created using Midjourney and its 3D counterpart in Unreal ︎︎︎ previous project next project ︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/Interior-Study Fri, 18 Feb 2022 14:40:10 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/Interior-Study Interior Study, 2022 Between Winter and Spring This work explores a single interior space created using hand-crafted 3D models and textures.&nbsp; Inspired by the memory of an unoccupied house which still contains its owner’s possessions, Between Winter and Spring, attempts to capture the feeling of a person’s simultaneous presence and absence. Textures and models have been created using archival images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The V&amp;A’s online collections.&nbsp; <img width="1200" height="1200" width_o="1200" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/051ff01c50234caede4ec65115c84ff95dba2e71c350ab6f3616cbaebad26260/still-life_02_web.jpg" data-mid="133933916" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/051ff01c50234caede4ec65115c84ff95dba2e71c350ab6f3616cbaebad26260/still-life_02_web.jpg" /> (Above) Between Winter and Spring (#2), 2022&nbsp; <img width="1200" height="1200" width_o="1200" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d40dcd8f36c9955b4d55d6fee83840f385a6b703bef55ead362ee90fd41a4344/still-life_03_web.jpg" data-mid="137873586" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d40dcd8f36c9955b4d55d6fee83840f385a6b703bef55ead362ee90fd41a4344/still-life_03_web.jpg" /> (Above) Between Winter and Spring (#3), 2022 <img width="1200" height="1200" width_o="1200" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/09a236de02fcd92a1823be60135ce80283316ecb62e0114b4b3cd07c7b670dc4/still-life_01_web.jpg" data-mid="133933914" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/09a236de02fcd92a1823be60135ce80283316ecb62e0114b4b3cd07c7b670dc4/still-life_01_web.jpg" /> (Above) Between Winter and Spring (#1), 2022 ︎︎︎ previous project next project ︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/Nomad Fri, 04 Jun 2021 08:03:53 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/Nomad <img width="1207" height="675" width_o="1207" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7eca4f90876a4dcc61e357713ca65588670cc8fc3e92202e9e0e1f16f0025b33/nomad_01.png" data-mid="110341606" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7eca4f90876a4dcc61e357713ca65588670cc8fc3e92202e9e0e1f16f0025b33/nomad_01.png" /> Nomad HoloLens Mixed Reality, workshops, 2019 Nomad is a collaborative project between Mnemoscene and Abira Hussein. It is a Mixed Reality experience which brings together sound recordings from the British Library, digitised objects from the British Museum, and people that  -as 3D holograms - inhabit the space and are viewable from any angle, at any moment in time. From a herdsman sleeping under the night’s sky to a woman pounding grain to the rhythm of a traditional song, this experience aims to place these everyday objects in the context from which they came. During Somali Week Festival 2018 the Nomad project invited Somali audiences in the UK to share and contribute their heritage objects and stories to the Nomad archive. The objects were digitised using photogrammetry and oral history recordings were used to capture the stories associated with them. The outcomes from the Heritage Lottery funded initiative can be found in an online collection at nomad-project.co.uk. Festivals, presentations and exhibitions V&amp;A Digital Design Weekend, 2019 LJMU Immersive Storytelling Symposium, 2018 British Library Labs Awards – Runner Up in the Artistic Category, 2018 Brighton Digital Festival, 2018 Lighthouse, The Impossible Futures of Immersion, 2018 <img width="1207" height="675" width_o="1207" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f01eef0834a2a8fe3046f41d311991b7bbd0730735e71f97980a7ac6ebbdab82/nomad_02.png" data-mid="110341395" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f01eef0834a2a8fe3046f41d311991b7bbd0730735e71f97980a7ac6ebbdab82/nomad_02.png" /> ︎︎︎ previous project&nbsp; next project&nbsp;︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/The-Chorus Wed, 19 May 2021 06:33:42 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/The-Chorus <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/19ac32480b9603630c04223041bcad6240549687cefc182c8c8c0844fe271045/the-chorus_07.png" data-mid="108888260" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/19ac32480b9603630c04223041bcad6240549687cefc182c8c8c0844fe271045/the-chorus_07.png" /> The Chorus Mixed Reality HoloLens Installation, 2017 The Chorus was developed during a two-year Master’s programme at the Netherlands Film Academy as part of a larger research project Place in Memory: Memory in Place. The installation presents stories of the residents from Srbská, previously named Wünschendorf, a remote village bordering Poland which is located in present-day Czechia. The village, which has almost entirely disappeared, has seen war and exile. It has had different names and belonged to different countries. The research explores how places like Srbská, which exist in individual and collective memories, can be experienced. Drawing on the archive created for this project, srbska.org, the questions of digital memory, spatial/multi-linear storytelling, and film as an interface to the archive were central to the works produced during the artistic research. The mixed reality installation presents a narrative environment: a database of voices and stories which are kept in space and made accessible through virtual video screens, spatial sound, and digitised objects. As an interface to access the archive, the participant moves through a spatial soundscape woven from various testimonies, sounds, videos, and objects triggered by their positioning in the space. The Chorus, in turn, becomes an interface of contradicting memories, impressions, experiences, views, and values. Exhibited at the group show Framing Traces at the EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (2017). Published and presented as part of Beyond forgetting: persecution / exile / memory (2019) (Bath Spa University &amp; Coburg University).&nbsp; <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/53e26d8ffefb93ad012f605a28006734f81e476065e4fe2084823f9e770a403d/the-chorus_02.png" data-mid="108888257" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/53e26d8ffefb93ad012f605a28006734f81e476065e4fe2084823f9e770a403d/the-chorus_02.png" /> <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a7a2794944145c8d29668f55914e03dbfeada8cc2c7e00cec4457f88b9b6d456/srbska-org.png" data-mid="111168166" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a7a2794944145c8d29668f55914e03dbfeada8cc2c7e00cec4457f88b9b6d456/srbska-org.png" /> <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a7093e944ef68825ee8e661daac828249c7412d5bc379616a742ded60754c86a/the-chorus_05.png" data-mid="108887604" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a7093e944ef68825ee8e661daac828249c7412d5bc379616a742ded60754c86a/the-chorus_05.png" /> <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b2180885edcf7aff408a6db0958846cfe982f9a721996e3e67296c64171a4242/the-chorus_06.png" data-mid="108888259" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b2180885edcf7aff408a6db0958846cfe982f9a721996e3e67296c64171a4242/the-chorus_06.png" /> <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9a90fc9a30350115c727a358658d165b2a3330445685f07b4896352375fe1cd2/the-chorus_03.png" data-mid="108905390" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9a90fc9a30350115c727a358658d165b2a3330445685f07b4896352375fe1cd2/the-chorus_03.png" /> <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/848db850899c8bf720d39a3689f568c595956a4b972f575ac04c132a414ab9bd/the-chorus_12.png" data-mid="108905559" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/848db850899c8bf720d39a3689f568c595956a4b972f575ac04c132a414ab9bd/the-chorus_12.png" /> ︎︎︎ previous project&nbsp; next project&nbsp;︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/Untitled-2016 Wed, 02 Jun 2021 17:49:41 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/Untitled-2016 <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b090cd82c99264a396600fee5b47013f63ba8b3bd052ba9675911428c39f93fa/untitled-2016_01.png" data-mid="110204337" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b090cd82c99264a396600fee5b47013f63ba8b3bd052ba9675911428c39f93fa/untitled-2016_01.png" /> Untitled 2016 Film, 2016, 4 minutes For decades, major libraries and institutions have invested heavily into the conversion of analogue materials into digital format. Digitisation is both a means of making materials more widely accessible and a means of preserving them. Untitled 2016 questions what forgetting might mean in the digital age which promises to remember everything. Festivals, presentations and exhibitions CINECITY Film Festival, November 2016&nbsp; Archive as a Play to Play&nbsp;group exhibition, EYE Filmmuseum, June 2017&nbsp; <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8c03ff9f077589cf4e6ca7bc3abc411f8df4d1b1953afff717c295a7c513ea34/untitled-2016_02.png" data-mid="110204338" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8c03ff9f077589cf4e6ca7bc3abc411f8df4d1b1953afff717c295a7c513ea34/untitled-2016_02.png" /> <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1d5f638de122c080411c0770aca22304ffb733049f087c060a35cebb9fe5dbe7/untitled-2016_03_retouched.png" data-mid="110204339" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1d5f638de122c080411c0770aca22304ffb733049f087c060a35cebb9fe5dbe7/untitled-2016_03_retouched.png" /> Sophie Dixon’s work contemplates the challenges for archival storage and archiving itself. In the contemporary moment of the digital age when there is an overproduction of images, knowledge is being collapsed or conflated with information or knowledge is being seen as information. Dixon’s reflective account, installed as a desktop interface with multiple layers of screen searches, interrogates what digital technology implies for forgetting, for digital amnesia, or what some theorists have termed ‘the coming of a digital dark age’. The work raised a number of questions regarding the worth of mass accumulations of data as archive. What might be of value? What is worthy of archiving in a time of information overload? Her piece invited reflection on the following questions: What Constitutes meaningful value on the layers upon layers of immediate information? How is information distinct from knowledge? Does Information enable the pursuit of knowledge? This is measured against the impermanence of the materiality of the medium of digital files and codes. How might the shift in the materiality of the medium from celluloid to digital files implicate or influence knowledge production? How does a digital mode of storing film images outside its historical provenance change their meaning if they are shown across different media and platforms? If the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan insisted in his seminal 1967 text, then platforms are not equivalent and the experience of the medium itself is implicated, at least in part, in the production of meaning. An extract from Archive as a Place to Play group exhibition at the EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam. Written by Jyoti Mistry, 2016. To view the film, please get in touch. ︎︎︎ previous project&nbsp; next project&nbsp;︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/Blood-Moon Wed, 19 May 2021 11:28:20 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/Blood-Moon <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/de0bc9a44ca18fe7950883ec10f2efe20759a08ed5fb228ed7f5bc01d7394181/blood-moon_01.png" data-mid="108911374" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/de0bc9a44ca18fe7950883ec10f2efe20759a08ed5fb228ed7f5bc01d7394181/blood-moon_01.png" /> Blood Moon Film, 2015, 4 minutes Inspired by the involuntary memories that new places reveal, Blood Moon projects forgotten family videos onto the streets of a new city. The projector and the camera work together to simultaneously create and record the newly formed image, which is generated by archived video and movement through one's physical surroundings. Festivals, presentations and exhibitions CINECITY Film Festival, November 2016&nbsp; Tan Like That group exhibition, London, 2014 It is recommended that the film is watched in HD with headphones. ︎︎︎ previous project&nbsp; next project&nbsp;︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/The-Shore Fri, 11 Jun 2021 08:18:24 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/The-Shore <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ebb253ba06310c85956b50f650e4fdd660295ece19735aeb7c1435adf18505a0/the-shore.png" data-mid="111277300" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ebb253ba06310c85956b50f650e4fdd660295ece19735aeb7c1435adf18505a0/the-shore.png" /> The Shore Film, 2015, 3 minutes The Shore is an experimental documentary about a caregiver and their experience of caring for someone who is approaching the end of their life. The film was created at the London Film School under the mentorship of artists Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth (20,000 Days on Earth). The project was supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation. Festivals, presentations and exhibitions Strangelove Festival, November 2020&nbsp; CINECITY Film Festival, November 2016&nbsp; 51zero Festival, October 2017JW3 Artists’ Film Salon, November 2014&nbsp; It is recommended that the film is watched in HD with headphones. ︎︎︎ previous project&nbsp; next project&nbsp;︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/Time-Pressure-Decay Wed, 19 May 2021 11:28:40 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/Time-Pressure-Decay <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b701a8f21c983c14adafaaacdcdd41ca73e7a0ac8c82c60df5912c9e1190e11f/time-pressure-decay_02.png" data-mid="108915770" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b701a8f21c983c14adafaaacdcdd41ca73e7a0ac8c82c60df5912c9e1190e11f/time-pressure-decay_02.png" /> Time, Pressure, Decay Film, Text, Installation, 2015 Time, Pressure, Decay explores the coal mining heritage of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France and Kent, UK. Initiated during a residency with the ADRT-62 Louvre-Lens Project in the former mining town of Lens, Northern France. Time, Pressure, Decay comprises of the installation, Fouquières-lès-Lens, the short film, La Mort De L’Arbre and three booklets. Festivals, presentations and exhibitionsSolo show at The Turner Contemporary and CRATE Studios, Margate, UK, 2015&nbsp; Fouquières-lès-LensA dual-screen installation (above) The coal mining industry dominated the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France until the late 1980s. The impact of the industry is still evident today, nowhere more so than in the landscape itself. Piercing the otherwise flat horizon, hillocks of waste from coal mining are scattered across the region. Referred to as spoil heaps, or terrils in French, they can reach almost 200 metres in height, making them some of the highest in western Europe.In rare instances, a terril can begin to burn years after it was established. Once the fire has started, it must burn for an indeterminate amount of time until it exhausts itself. An example of this is located in Fouquières-lès-Lens, where, through ruptured earth, an acrid pall of smoke is cast over the town. Drawing on the ephemerality of the smoking landscape, Fouquieres-Les-Lens is an attempt to capture the juncture between the present and its buried, industrialised past. <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/85c42761871e1d6c43bf9c4228dbdcb9b038e3c6ac67d6a20b2ab8dad30b7c0a/time-pressure-decay_01.png" data-mid="108915741" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/85c42761871e1d6c43bf9c4228dbdcb9b038e3c6ac67d6a20b2ab8dad30b7c0a/time-pressure-decay_01.png" /> Coal is a product of time, pressure, and decay. To accompany the film a set of three booklets were made. Each booklet contains fragments of personal memory, photography, archival research, and recorded testimonies. A set of three booklets, digital print, letterpress (above) La Morte de L’Arbre / The Death of The Tree (below)Film, 2016, 15 minutes With its starting point in the striking landscape of Lens, La Mort de L’Arbre explores the coalfields of northern France and Kent. One miner describes that from the apple cores, which the miners threw away, apple trees of all varieties would flourish on the terrils. Since his redundancy as a miner, he focuses on his passion for these trees and recites his poem ‘La Morte de L’Arbre’. From there, the landscape and the stories of miners from both France and Kent give us a glimpse into the labyrinthian spaces sealed deep both in memory and underground. <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ac1798ed40500de8b24cecfbc186f95bb98d780b13320c9df5ee72cca23b8f8c/la-mort-de-larbre_01.png" data-mid="108915989" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ac1798ed40500de8b24cecfbc186f95bb98d780b13320c9df5ee72cca23b8f8c/la-mort-de-larbre_01.png" /> <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/609479e2da796ef552f1521b3b92c15c27210f839f8feb638b1464a67e9858c2/la-mort-de-larbre_02.png" data-mid="108915990" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/609479e2da796ef552f1521b3b92c15c27210f839f8feb638b1464a67e9858c2/la-mort-de-larbre_02.png" /> To view this film, please get in touch. ︎︎︎ previous project&nbsp; next project&nbsp;︎︎︎ https://sophie-dixon.com/Wunschendorf Wed, 19 May 2021 16:54:09 +0000 sophie-dixon https://sophie-dixon.com/Wunschendorf <img width="1200" height="675" width_o="1200" height_o="675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/affeafeede99aab0502f7ba292dacedf9fca4b5fc5dd3bab1ab47c99d9ba91cb/unschendorf_01.png" data-mid="108941863" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/affeafeede99aab0502f7ba292dacedf9fca4b5fc5dd3bab1ab47c99d9ba91cb/unschendorf_01.png" /> Wünschendorf Film, 2014, 35 minutes The Second World War wrought irreversible changes in the lives of millions. It was a period of loss and displacement which, up to this day, continues to influence the world in which we live. As the children who were born just before the war are now entering their early eighties, Wünschendorf opens up the complex dialogue between what has been and what is now. Festivals, presentations and exhibitions Platform Show, Turner Contemporary, 2014Screened at Whitstable Biennale, 2014 Press / Text The Catlin Guide, 40 of the UK’s most promising artists, 2015 To view the film, please get in touch. ︎︎︎ previous project&nbsp; next project&nbsp;︎︎︎