Wk 7 // critique preparation & draft statement

Current critique plan: to present four short moving image works together as a single video montage via a large-scale projection. I'd like to get feedback on the different formats, and what is and isn't working.

I am also considering presenting some small, individual works that feature point cloud objects (renditions of individual rocks studied at Maungakiekie/Cornwall Park, Maungawhau/Mt Eden and Tāmaki Drive's sea wall) - if so, these will be brought in for the second critique on Friday and will likely be titled with either their location, their maunga of origin, or simply as Wall 1, Wall 2, etc.

Edit: I also considered presenting these works separately with multiple projections but after testing it out in the space, I will hold off for now (that can be a Friday happening if I want to give it a go for feedback).

Anna Bensky

an entity for a while (working title)

2023

(Single channel moving image montage, duration 5:24 mins)

an entity for a while explores the unique qualities and temporality of Auckland's geological materials through investigating the topographies of the historic structures they occupy. In documenting and traversing their forms through digital point cloud systems, I explore the idea that even the most stable and static elements of our environment are subject to ongoing change, and exist within a constant state of flux - whether perceivable or not.

The title of the work draws on a quote from science fiction author Ursula le Guin, who when reflecting on our atomic, material connection with other bodies in the known universe, states

Parts of me that are stone, or star, or dust,… What came together to make me [is] the stuff of life… One is almost an accidental concatenation of a lot of stuff getting together and becoming an entity for a while.[1]

The world around us, including its geological elements, is in a constant state of reorganisation, both through and outside of human influence. Constructed across a volcanic field, Tāmaki Makaurau has a unique material history as a city built on, around and from volcanic peaks. Many of its basalt and scoria structures, particularly rock walls, have been subject to multiple waves of deconstruction and reassembly throughout human history – most recently during Pākehā colonisation. As the places these walls were built to surround have since shifted or disappeared themselves, many are left as lone entities within their landscapes. Despite the distance the stones used to build them have from the mountains they were quarried from, and their displacement throughout the cityscape today, many retain visible elements of their volcanic origin.

[1] Parque Hudson, “Ursula K Le Guin debate con Donna Haraway”, 1:14:50, January 24 2018, 29:45 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59bLqzrM2r0.