The Oculist Reason

Lauren Moffatt (AU, DE )
The Oculist Reason
©Lauren Moffatt

The Oculist Reason is an interactive video installation, comprising an experimental 360° environment and a linear single-channel video, which investigates the transferral of physical space into the virtual realm. The work’s point of departure is a decaying mural in the former Unemployed and Trade Union Services Centre in Liverpool. It was created in the mid-80s, at a time when Liverpool was struggling with the effects of the conservative economic policy of the Thatcher government and depicts the protests and initiatives of the regional working class. Following this, The Oculist Reason presents events and personalities associated with a general movement for employment and solidarity in this era. At the same time it is a documentation of Mick Jones’ painting, whose future is uncertain due to renovation work at the building.

To make the documentation, 16mm film gathered in the building has been integrated into a digital scanning and modelling process in order to reproduce a virtual reproduction of the painting for viewers to explore. The Oculist Reason tells the story of the mural and the events depicted in it while opening up a line of questions about the viability of virtual archives and the prospects and difficulties for human connectedness in a tacit digital landscape.

 

interactive video installation

Grant: November–December 2014, FACT (GB)