Multichannel - ArtSway

Multichannel took place at ArtSway from the 28th to 30th of September. A screening programme of artists' moving image works, it included twenty-four artists. The works were screened in the three gallery spaces.

In gallery 1 was the 'Artists use of Documentary'. This featured work by Tim Shore: Cabinet (2006), Alex Reuben: Routes: Dancing to New Orleans (2005/6), Charlotte Ginsborg: The Mirroring Cure (2006) and Rachel Garfield: Centre Left: Centre Right (Southend) (2006).

I particularly enjoyed Ginsborg's 'The Mirroring Cure'. It has the form of a documentary but the lines between the real and the imaginary are blurred. The film documents the Design Manager of a building project in London, as he goes about his work. He has an illness which causes him instability and loss of balance. Other workers on the project are also documented on their thoughts about work and life. The Receptionist is one of these and together with a Construction Worker a 'mirroring cure' for his illness is somehow found as he imitates their behaviours. What is interesting about this film is that the psychic space between people in the workplace is explored.

In gallery 2, 'Sound, Abstraction, Animation and Artists' Use of Single Screen Video'. The works in this section were: Lizzie Sykes: Sequences from Unfairground Ride (2005/6), Jon Adams: 43Seconds (2007, Adam Vanner: Beijing Opera (2006/7), Julie Marsh: Livin' Thing (2006), Michael Gale: 25th October Street (2007), Charlie Tweed: All About The Power (2006), Dan Geesin: Show Me the Way to Your Most Beautiful Place (2004), Laura Joy: Sun and Dark (2006), Eamon O'Kane: Overlook (2004), Susan Sloan: Me and Mrs Sloan (2007), Mel Harding: Son and Her (2007), Julian Konczak: J9 (2006), Ruth Todhunter: Water Butt (2006) and Kirsten Cooke: Danish Lunch (2007).

Eamon O'Kane's 'Overlook' did clever things with split screens. Travelling through a building, its lift shafts and stairwells are 'mirrored' to disconcerting effect.

Mel Harding's 'Son and Her' is a very clever use of video with poignant subject matter. A child helps his mother by administering pats to the body, obviously necessary for her health. The role reversal shows a young carer, rather than the usual parent-child relationship.

I also found 'Water Butt', by Ruth Todhunter, interesting - almost abstract in its study of the water in a water butt, with seeds resting on the water and with the sound of passing trains. Sometimes the water ripples with the breeze. Another section is a study of seeds collecting by a garden railing.

Gallery 3 was 'Video as Installation'. This included works by: Peter Hardie: Falling Water (2007), Stephen Turner: Greenworld (2005/6), Carla Brennan: Hand Bagging (2007), Yvonne Jones: X-IT (2007), Jane Grant :Running Piece (2004) and Stephen Bell: Track (2007).

In Stephen Turner's Greenworld a circle of sea, with its texture and light, floats in space. The sea was filmed through a blowhole in a seafort on the Kent Coast. Part of a larger project called 'Seafort', the video is very contemplative and abstracted.

The works in this exhibition were selected by ArtSway and SCAN.