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Editors' note: In addition to IOU's theatre work, in 2006, IOU Artistic Director David Wheeler spent three months in Antarctica as part of an Arts Council England and British Antarctic Survey supported residency. The results are a photographic and sculptural exhibition, Half Moon, and Antarctic Travelogue (2009- 2013) a long-sequence video taken with five linked cameras, together with three-metre wide panoramic photographic prints, made while in Antarctica.
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Productions and Projects
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Electric Field
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2009
Following the death of their goldfish, a couple embark on a quest to transform matter. Their day trip to a local beauty spot takes on new dimensions as they attempt to transcend the laws of nature. IOU's base at Dean Clough becomes an eerie film studio where the travellers are seen immersed in their journey. As the travellers become enmeshed within the mechanics of the universe, they are shadowed by a cluster of ghost-like film technicians, who manipulate their progress. Action is mixed live on-screen as the couple grapple with their environment. Confronted by electro-magnets, liquid nitrogen, compressed air and old fridges, the couple attempt to find their bearings. Once the travellers had reached the end of their journey the audience were transported to Beacon Hill, over looking Halifax, for a fantastically normal finale.
Electric Field is the first of a series of works exploring ideas generated in response to IOU's Artistic Director David Wheeler's time in Antarctica as artist in residence with the British Antarctic Survey.
This work also includes Antarctic Travelogue, an exhibition of panoramic videos and photographs.
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Electric Field
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Leaves among Thorns
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1994, 1996
The Grimm-inspired forest is taken out on tour. Leaves Among Thorns is presented at The Castle Gallery in Haigerloch, Germany. This walk-through installation presents a continuously changing collage of images, inspired by the rich, resonant stories of the Brothers Grimm.
Also presented at The Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston and the Royal Festival Hall Gallery. A woodland wander through a forest of revolving trees.
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Leaves among Thorns
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Salt and Slack Water
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1987
A show specially commissioned for the Bradford Festival at Salts Mill, Saltaire. At the time, the mill was disused, although in its heyday 12,000 power looms had produced more than 18 miles of cloth a day. IOU created a work of fiction in three parts. Partly mystery tour, partly a son et lumiere, fusing image, action and music in a poetic framework. Salt and Slack Water is a wordless performance rooted in music and dance, exploring a succession of landscapes, where mythical and everyday characters meet. We are led through factories, forests and gardens, stopping at watering-places, witnessing the turn of the tide. The scenes - 1. A break on the Production Line. 2. A Clearing in the Forest. 3. Back to the Garden.
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Salt and Slack Water
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A Drop in the Ocean
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1984
An outdoor piece performed on the beaches of Brighton. Taking place in the evening as part of the Brighton Festival. Stone mounds, bonfires and fire-cans lighting a runway down to the sea… Two bird-like scavenging women at the sea's edge find a wardrobe, showing signs of life within. They feed the wardrobe with eggs, bread and potatoes, gathered from amongst the pebbles - poking the food through a funnel. An armoured rescue-vehicle makes its way along the beach, lights blazing. The vehicle winches the wardrobe up the beach and a man is extracted. He is powdered and put inside a large inflated 'bathing-suit' (made from inner-tubes, wellington boots and large, rubbery trousers). The man is sent out to sea. This lone figure is followed into the darkness of the swirling water with a searchlight.
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A Drop in the Ocean
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