(An installation in collaboration with my daughter Eden)
Andrew Kötting 2009
“To draw is to look, examining the structure of
appearances. A drawing of a tree shows, not a tree but a
tree-being-looked-at. Whereas the sight of a tree is registered almost
instantaneously, the examination of the sight of a tree (a
tree-being-looked-at) not only takes minutes or hours instead of a
fraction of a second, it also involves, derives from, and refers back
to, a much previous experience of looking. This is how the act of
drawing refuses the process of disappearances and proposes the
simultaneity of a multitude of moments”.
John Berger – Drawn To That Moment
IVUL (the installation) is an attempt to present a multitude of moments by using the story of a boy’s disappearance-up-a-tree as a starting point and catalyst. First the story was turned into a film and then the film was turned into an Installation.
The Installation is composed of several elements and incorporates a series of drawings made with my daughter Eden. She is 21 and has Joubert Syndrome resulting in a learning disability, coordination complications and a visual impairment.
Eden has been drawing for a long time. It is an important means of expression and communication for her. It is also something that she does very well. Ten years ago we started drawing ‘Still Life’ together. I arrive at a contemplative and meditative state of mind through this process and spend a lot of time looking-at-Eden-looking. She also enjoys the concentrated focus and likes to label the selected objects; there is then no confusion as to what it is that we have been drawing. Her labelling is important and one of the many moments that inform our collaboration.
It is Eden’s perception of the world that is unfathomable and something that continues to inspire and frustrate in equal measure. However it helps to put a lot of the ‘art-anxiety’ into context and perhaps develops the idea of parenting as a new art form.
Earlier this year I finished making a feature film. At first it was called Off Ground He but now it is called IVUL. I decided to re-present the work as an Installation for the show Panorama 11 at Le Fresnoy in Roubaix, France. Eden contributed a series of drawings that we worked on together in my studio. We took props and costumes from the film and an assortment of objects that were to make up the installation; including bonsai trees, slide projectors, wine bottles and records and drew them over a two week period before the show opened.
The film was inspired by my love of tree climbing and
tells the story of a young boy, Alex who first climbs onto the roof of
his house and then disappears up into the arboreal heights of a Pyrenean
forest. He makes a vow never to set foot on the earth again and manages
to live out a brief and dramatic life to this effect.
For IVUL (the installation) a world in miniature is created using a forest of Bonsai Trees. Within this world two key scenes from IVUL (the film)
loop on television monitors. On the two monitors we watch and listen to
Alex’s mother and sister pleading with him to come back down to the
ground. Traces of his presence are felt but we never see him.
For the Fish exhibition Eden has been
asked to add to the existing prints of the original drawings. They are
presented throughout the space as an addition to the multitude of
moments within the work and might be seen as a glue for holding together
some of the more disparate elements.
Traditionally ‘Still Life’ paintings would often contain allegorical symbols relating to the objects depicted on the artists’ studio table and this is something, which connects directly with the IVUL project as whole. The idea is to open out the work and present it within an art context and not just a cinematic one.
Out of the artist’s mind through the point of a pencil or a pen comes proof that the world is solid, material.
John Berger – Drawn To That Moment
I often wonder whether through the act of drawing Eden too is proving her existence, reminding me of her being and the pleasure that she knows I get from our looking-at-things together.
PS - A limited edition of hand made floor tiles will be available to purchase throughout the exhibition as well as a selection of drawings.
PPS - IVUL (the film) was produced by Sciapode and Box Productions and premiered at The Locarno International Film Festival this summer. It is distributed in France by ED Distribution and in Switzerland by FilmCoopi. It will play this year as part of The London Film Festival.
Eden. From the garden
back to the garden; it is perhaps not overstating the case to say that
the fact of Eden and the unique insights she has bought to Kötting’s
life and work have led his explorations into areas. Eden; embodying and
generating an instinctual tolerance. She offers thresholds for ventures
into the very core of consciousness and perception. Eden, as agent and
catalyst, is essential to appreciating how Kötting works, why he works,
how he deploys and values time and how he is not afraid. How he is
opened out and into celebration by a ‘situation’ normally deemed to be
one that ‘reduces’ possibility.
Gareth Evans – Writer, Curator and Editor
Thanks:
Marie Aurelia Petit
Freya Adelaide Leroux
Camera Nick Gordon Smith and Gary Parker
Sound Recordist Bruno Auzet
Boom Operator Thomas Lachesnais
Editor Baptiste Evrard
