The Screen
Fern Thomasthe [...] space
10 June - 13 July 2014
From the Watchtower
From the Watchtower will see the transformation of citizen into learner/observer into active participant.
Expanding on a daily practice of watching the sea from her top floor flat overlooking Swansea Bay, the ‘Watchtower’ will be activated by Thomas through a series of day-long observations of the sea.
Across several weeks, set days will be dedicated to the act of observing the sea or ‘keeping watch’ from a high window overlooking the sea where shifting tides, colours, and unknown phenomenology will be observed. Set within the context of an ‘Ephemeral Coast’, From the Watchtower will explore our relationship with the sea, the potential future of the oceans and the processes of understanding through observing. Working with an imagined future, the work will also question what ‘keeping watch’ of the sea might mean.
At the end of each day observations and thoughts will be transformed into a spoken word/sonic interpretation of the day which will then be updated at Mission Gallery and also made available on the online From the Watchtower Radio Station.
A small publication will be made available at the end of the exhibition.
This work is a commission for Ephemeral Coast, curated by Celina Jeffery.
About | Fern Thomas
Rooted in the processes and principles of Social Sculpture, Fern Thomas’ work explores the potency and transformational capacities of the image in its broadest sense and interrogates her relationship with the ecological, archetypal and mythological world. Manifesting in action – live or documented – her process-led and intuitive explorations often take the form of a physical interaction or ‘meeting’ between herself and a place, a dream, a history or another being. She is the founder of the Institute for Imagined Futures & Unknown Lands.
