Archives-Gaze
Gaze:The Anxious Sign / Millenium Square
This work was concerned with capturing the intensity of looking. The steady gaze caught on video was possible because of the need to maintain a constant and sustained view of the subject. Video footage provided the means to 'see' this engrossed introspection.
Gaze:The Anxious Sign was shown at Watershed Media Centre, Bristol 2000, Focal Point Gallery, Southend on Sea 2000, Focus Gallery London 2000. After this work was published in Portfolio (June 1999 No:29) a new opportunity arose. Millennium Square, Leeds 1999-2000 was a temporary public art project sponsored by Art and Architecture. I was invited to work with architect Pierre D’Avoine during the construction of the new civic square completed in 2000. The idea was to draw attention to the perimeter hoarding surrounding the construction site, and encourage engagement with the developing construction. The hoarding was painted dark blue with polkadots and was punctured with a hundred spy holes for the public to look through and view huge portraits of local people mounted within the building site. The portraits were still images from video footage I had taken in Leeds town centre. They were printed on 9’x7’ canvas, mounted on steel frames and placed inside the hoarding.
