Collette's WWH

Title: Access As Idiot Distraction.

What-

Access As Idiot Distraction is a digitally rendered film, in three successive parts, featuring a seascape and isolated but existing architectural structure. The video opens with an introduction to the site. The sovereign principality of Sealand, located in international waters off the south east coast of England. Emerging from animated wave patterns the scale of the site is unclear.

The simplification of detail upon the site presents the form as an artificial model and idealised representation, a monument for micronationalism.

The second section enters into a digitally rendered white cube space. In the centre of which stands a plinth with a black, water-filled container on top. Two pillars protrude from it. As the picture zooms in the waves begin to glitch, inverting in upon themselves. The shot moves around the plinth in a disembodied motion and the sound becomes quieter, containing small squeaks in addition to the established oceanic noises.

The final section returns to investigate the initial scene with a mirrored dome topped drone, reflecting the undulation of the waves as it moves through the supporting pillars of the structure. Each section is punctuated by 30 seconds of black frame.

The film is created in collaboration with a digital animator using cinema 4D and was based on real life footage of a voyage to the Principality of Sealand. The sound is directly transplanted from this footage and layered to create a more ambient surround. The first and third sections employ an infinite ocean generator, whilst the second section, set within the gallery uses a floating layer, progammed to behave as water, but with a an inbuilt glitch to that causes the waves to collapse invert themselves. The Modelling of Sealand was based on structural plans given to the artist by the king of Sealand.

The work was digitally modelled as a result of not being able to gain access to the physical structure of Sealand, after communications with the Prince broke down. The digital modelling allowed for the site to be navigated in such a way, that the site was able to transcend into a prototypal, sculptural form with totemic aesthetic. The use of black frames within the editing process was to allow heightend atmospheric conditions within a shipping container like gallery which it was commissioned for.