V I R U S
   
the Cast
   
'The Cast' nailed previous shared concerns to the table (or vitrine) and was a serious attempt to re-examine standard ‘project documentation’. It would also prove useful to explore the strong performance bent of the [Kana Naka] event. A new level of inquiry would be pierced with a relatively blunt 160 x 160 x 45 mm cement cast and 26 000 images of the same. The paint drying analogy is often levelled at this piece, this however was not even a remote consideration and indeed aided the audience sifting process, expressing the Virus need to view and operate in a space beyond and largely devoid of purely visual aesthetics. The museum as arena and context was in this case replaced by the vitrene, a conveniently self contained ‘clear cube’. Ongoing processed-based work combined with live web broadcast and archive seemed art-logical. Problems of audience have been discussed at many points in the past (and indeed form much of the group’s current practice) and needed to be examined. Any conclusions and observations on audience seem somewhat open ended, and as usual seemed further [mudded] by discussion, however nailing down the/an audience has possibilities.


The original web page text expands further:


The Cast is a location-specific experiment carried out over two separate time periods in Edinburgh and Rakvere. A discreet cement cast cures over fourteen days in the corner of a museum vitrine in an undisclosed location in Edinburgh. Two weeks later, the experiment is replicated in a different vitrine in Rakvere Muuseum. Both experiments are documented via a web-cam. The results of the first experiment (13027 images in all) can be searched and accessed via a web link,[ or through the enclosed CD] the images from the Rakvere experiment are fed live to the second address. The Rakvere cast will commence on 25.07.01 and will run for fourteen days.
In a material sense, the cement casts make physical, a specific space acting as self-referential records of location and process. Filming the objects and storing the images further explores the idea of 'de-location'. The viewer / participant assumes an ambiguous role in the “performative” process. 'The Cast' presents the opportunity to break down and analyse in detail the nature of a specific event.
Each cast is 160 x 160 x 45 mm and comprises a 1:2 cement /sand mix.
     
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