Body in Space. | JENNIFER MASON in Auckland
2013 is the third year of the Commission, an annual public commission of photographic art by a fine arts photographer in New Zealand. The Commission provides an opportunity to support and promote an Auckland photographic talent as well as creating an important cultural and artistic asset for present and future Auckland audiences to enjoy. This year’s commissioned artist is Jennifer Mason. The artist proposes a project that the Festival funds, this year Jennifer proposed a site‐specific work in a historic cement silo in downtown Auckland. She took photos inside Silo 6 then re‐exhibited the photos in the base of Silo 7. The space in Silo 7 is outside and exposed to the elements, it can be viewed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Find out more about Jennifer Mason’s work in this deconarch.com interview!
(c) Jennifer Mason
Jennifer Mason
Body in Space.
Silo 7 in Wynyard Quarter, Auckland City.
3rd June – 8th July, 2013
Auckland Festival of Photography
(c) Jennifer Mason
Info (Artist’s Statement): Body In Space is a photographic exploration of the space within Silo Six. The artist has photographed many different angles of the historic cement tower and then re‐configured the space to add disruptions to perspective and odd spatial transplants.
Despite the show’s title the human body is absent from the images, instead it refers to the way in which the viewer responds to them. The central ‘photo‐cube’ presents four doors whose planes lay on top of a room that spans around the cube. They initially appear as mirrors offering ominous entry into darkened rooms. But on closer inspection many things aren’t accurate, lines don’t match up, the perspective is wrong and the depth of space is inaccurate. These rooms are uninhabitable in the traditional meaning of space. It takes the viewer to open them up by imagining their body in them.
(c) Jennifer Mason
On the opposing inner wall are two images that map the unusual roofs of Silo Six. At the centre of one is a deep cavernous space reminiscent of a black hole. A ceiling depicted with all it’s surrounding walls and doors sliding into itself.
The other presents another ceiling from which an unusual mechanical apparatus protrudes. It’s presented with multiple angles protruding out, collapsing out toward you. The architecture of the silo is designed to be functional but presented in its historic state and digitally altered it is transformed. It becomes a strange place, reminiscent of ancient tombs, a religious place or something from a science fiction movie. It becomes monumental, a place in which you can collapse the boundaries between real and fictional.
Info + illus. courtesy Commission | Auckland Festival of Photography
