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Take a look into your minds eye, ten thousand years into the future, what do you see? Rocket boots? Spaceships? The end of the world as we know it? This query about the future has been framed beautifully between the four tiers of a house keeping trolley. Usually confined to its functionality, this wheeled entity has traded in the clean bed linen and towels and become the background for Jack Fisher’s play.

The audience are greeted by the ominous music which some might find familiar if they have been exposed to the strange mix of horror, science-fiction, drama, comedy and superstition that is The Twilight Zone. The use of music is hugely prominent throughout the production, the first act beginning with Nelly’s Here Comes The Boom, whose fairly brutal tone matches the fiery images of death and destruction. These found images of continue to crop up within the initial act and, due to their lack of editing, they still confined to old context of the rectangle one would find them residing in on Google but in a new over-arching situation of the play.  

The eye from which the piece is observed moves back and forth from focusing on the rolling hills and organic landscapes situated within the trolley to the structure of the trolley itself. There’s a real subtly here; we are allowed enough time to forget the underlying location and form a different relationship with the curious narrative. Moving on, a fleet of drones appears from the mist, accompanied by the pounding chords and rippling arpeggios of Philip Glass’ renowned Metamorphosis One. As the omnipotent spectator float its way through the scene it’s interesting to consider the scene in Battlestar Galactica, accompanied by the same magnificent sound, where Kara Thrace’s true personality is revealed.

A reappearing feature is the amazing way that a light source is used in the traditional way to signify a change in time or season but also in a thematic way, to alter the mood; whether things are entirely bleached out or resting in dark pockets, the use of light is meticulously considered. Relating to this is the way in which objects and scenes materialise as the viewer moves through their flimsy meshes – usually not an aim when developing a simulation of life yet in this framework, it acts as a reminder to the onlookers of the instability of the reality that they are being presented with. I think we can all agree that future is going to be a peculiar one.

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Jack Fisher is a Leeds based artist whose work examines the relevance of certain cultural signifiers and objects whilst constantly shifting between physical and online space. His unique approach leads to a collage like practice which spans across galleries and online blog formats.

The SketchUp Residency

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