Michael Day

The General Situation

The General Situation is a video work that experiments with temporary minimal electronic interventions into the landscape. It documents the installation of a number of small light sources on Chesil Beach beneath a Jurassic period cliff top. Each light source switches on and off to its own time schedule, creating a semi-random pattern of lights that gradually become more visible as dusk draws in. By placing electronic timers in a landscape that is normally used for the purposes of tourism, the piece conflates the immediate, real-time nature of electronic media with the timescales of leisure, contrasting this with the geological timescale of the cliffs.

Developed and produced at LabCulture Artist Residency, Burton Bradstock, Dorset, UK, 2009. PVA MediaLab is a dedicated artist-led space which supports creativity and research through a process-oriented environment, nurturing artist experimental and practice-based research. They offer support to multi-disciplinary projects, diverse artists and new media practitioners, particularly those investigating new areas in their practice. Supported by Arts Council England, SW and Dorset County Council.

Special thanks to James Price, Eva Bensasson, and Charlotte Loving.