Last November (2012) I was commissioned by fellow artist Eskild Beck to make a film for the Danish town of Aabenraa.
I've worked with Eskild on exhibitions since 2010 but have never met him or even spoken by phone. As he explained the brief in a series of emails I wondered if this was some bizarre hoax or just another artist's pipe dream.
He didn't quite have any specifications or measurements or deadlines for me but he had a VISION!
In this apparition he saw that the 30 foot silos in his native town would be bathed in light and colour. These harsh totems dedicated to an industrial god would be transformed into a carousel of fun and dancing Mackerel.....
Now just wait a minute.....did he just say 30ft Dancing Mackerel.
Now me and Mudge looked at one another. Was this guy for real. This sounded like a chance of a lifetime or it could all end in a Quixotesque oblivion. So for the next 3 months we bounced ideas and emails back and forth, between London and Aabenraa. We relentlessly watched those gritty murder dramas that have defined Denmark here in England over the past year or so. Our Danish improved a little but our nerves we're frayed.
In the end we delved back into Aabenraa's glory days as port and it picturesque architecture.
Eventually it all came together and we sent it off, not thinking for one moment that it would ever make it onto those huge silos. Just a few days ago we got a surprise, a video and stills with our film in full flow.
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| Aabenraa Silos |
We've made it as part of the Murder Minutes project and hope to perform it live sometime in 2013 with a quartet of Bill Mudge, Duncan Eagles, Max Luthert and Peter Ibbetson.
AL 2013
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