Video, valtos sandstone, text, tinder, velvet cushion
01 hours 04 minutes
2016-2018
In early 2015 Dutch artist Jasper Coppes gave a presentation at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, which I was fortunate enough to attend, though I admit I have forgotten most of the content of the lecture. This is in no way due to any lack on the part of Coppes, but because during the presentation he removed an egg-shaped rock from his bag. This rock, found somewhere in Scotland captivated me, and left me distracted for the duration of the talk.
While saying or reading the term ‘egg-shaped rock’ does not really inspire any sense of the extraordinary, in its perfection its absolute eggness it was. Holding it during the presentation I wanted to go to Scotland, to claim my own perfectly egg-shaped rock and to be shaped by those natural forces that had formed the rock.
Moving to Scotland in late 2015, it was still 18 months before I, with my colleague Rhona Mühlebach who was kind enough to document the trip, traveled to the Isle of Eigg to find my rock.
Chapter One: In which the hero is introduced.
Chapter Two: In which the quest for love is begun and the hero begins to see a dilemma.
Chapter Three:In which the hero, confronted by so many candidates, consolidates the options and tries to make a decision.
Chapter Four: In which the hero, failing to make a decision, experiences a series of vapid and transitory relationships, and is ultimately surprised.
Chapter Five: In which, upon the success of the quest, the hero returns with her beloved.
Chapter Six: In which an expert touches upon some of the practical constraints of the romance.
Chapter Seven: In which the hero’s (life and) death is experienced by the love interest.
Chapter Eight: In which the love interest becomes the hero.
Chapter Nine:
Exhibited as part of ‘Life Is Too Short To Be Serious All The Time’, with Jack Evans and Richard Müller, 2018, curated by Georgia Stephenson, at Lumen Studios, London.
Sound Design assistance from William Aikman
Voice of the geologist Rab Magowan
Tinder user advise contributed by Tony McElhinney
Editing assistance from Rhona Mülebach
Filmed by Rhona Mülebach
Geological input contributed by Matthew Staitis