Steve Carr, Screen Shots, 2011, 9-channel installation, Phantom Flex, Duration 26mins 22 secs
The University of mini传媒 (UC) film academic and moving image artist was recently awarded the prestigious McCahon House Residency for 2020. He will use the purpose-built studio and accommodation adjacent to the McCahon House Museum in French Bay in Titirangi from January to March next year.听
听Carr says he felt honoured to receive the accolade, particularly during McCahon鈥檚 100th anniversary celebrations.
听鈥淭he McCahon House Residency is a highly sought after opportunity and it has a prolific list of distinguished alumni,鈥 he says.
听The opportunity comes at the perfect time for the sculptor, photographer and filmmaker, who has 鈥渂uilt a practice through using technology and materials to slow down and capture what we cannot otherwise see or hear; making the world seemingly and strangely anew鈥, he says.
听It is timely for several reasons. 鈥淚t lines up with my upcoming sabbatical period at UC, it is the perfect setting to work while allowing me to have my family with me, which many residencies do not accommodate, and most importantly, I have two major presentations to work towards in Auckland and Melbourne in 2020.鈥澨
听He has big plans for his upcoming residency.
听鈥淧revious artists in residence speak of it as a place to immerse yourself in its natural soundscape. I plan to deliberate on this natural environment and use it as a material to investigate, manipulate and test its limits,鈥 Carr says.
听鈥淢y proposal for the residency comprises of slowing down time iterated through a series of sound works, sculptures and film studies. The starting point will initially be based around a meditation on the McCahon House鈥檚 physical surrounds and in particular its immersion within the dense native bush.
听鈥淭he importance of this history will be palpable when immersed in the physical surroundings. Thinking about the work that McCahon made during his time there and seeing the connections come through in his work, I am intrigued as to how this space will reflect upon my practice.
听鈥淚 am aware of the references to the landscape that traverse my practice. For example, my 2009 film听Burn Out,听was shot against the lush Henderson bush and it transformed a macabre act into a hauntingly mesmerising film that references a painting convention. It鈥檚 a kind of perverse homage to a long tradition of New Zealand art made in response to journeys through the landscape, in which McCahon was deeply entrenched.鈥
听Carr is the co-founder of the Blue Oyster Gallery in Dunedin and board member of Auckland鈥檚 Artspace (2002-04) and Christchurch鈥檚 Physics Room (2016-19). His publication听Variations for Troubled Hands听won the Australian Photobook of the Year Awards 2017, and his work has been collected and presented extensively in public and private galleries nationally and internationally.
听Artists Ana Iti and Richard Frater were also selected for 2020 residencies. All three residency recipients demonstrated an ambition and level of critical thinking that will benefit from a three-month supportive residency, according to the听.
听The McCahon House Residency is supported through investment funding from Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa as well as support from organisations and philanthropists including The Trusts Community Foundation, Foundation North and Wait膩kere Ranges Local Board.
