Departed - Inscriptions in Time and Place - Movement 2 - In the Company of Strangers

AUT (NZ) Masters in dance and video. This study is again, in direct collaboration with the composer/musician, Mike Beever, based in Nelson, NZ Aotearoa. I requested a range of short passages of sound to provide me with choices and flexibility within my matching/editing of sound to movement/intention. I am indebted to Mike for his generosity in working with me and giving me license to manipulate and edit his sound work. In this piece I was seeking to engage with a sound base that is more ambiguous than in the earlier versions of 'Departed' and both the sounds and the title reflect my curiosity about our ability to leave inscriptions or traces not just upon obvious surfaces like table tops in the station cafe, but upon one another and on more tenuous surfaces in the space itself, through the myriad of minutiae within the languages that we use; movement, touch, sightlines, intent, imagination - all within the timeframe itself, wherein we inhabit and displace space within a given place. I have also removed the black train window frame from this version. It signified a state of impending departure for me and a particular view of the world at that time, after experiencing the loss of my Mother. This is moving on into a more open (rather than closed) consideration of the composition.

This video is based around an urban myth I am creating; that all our engagements, meetings and relations with people and places are subject to the forces of indeterminacy which set the scene for movement - movement away; departure - we are always leaving ... I wanted to introduce a sense of small but strong drama - a tableau of clenched feeling which we can sometimes witness in public places; a sense of passion, of despair, of pathos at our fate which is to be swept up in this constant movement away from those places and people which sustain our sense of belonging. The work is interventionist in that it creates a moment of uncertainty for the busy commuters at rush-hour; what is taking place here? A quarrel? A passionate withdrawal? A charged parting? The event of leaving within the chosen day inexorably taking over ...

I would also like to thank the Wellington Railway Station staff for permission to carry out dance/film work in this unique station space.

Please have a look at my Masters in Art and Design site: http://hoststranger.blogspot.com

Also find Mike Beever`s work at: http://www.myspace.com/crashnz

Thank you for your time, Mike Baker