Screensaver: A moving-image
window projection for CoCA Window Projects.
Curated by Chloe Geoghegan
Presented at Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA)
Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand.
“Nebulous growths and astronomical amoebas move across the screen, simultaneously pixelated and biological. Arhythmically, they grow and disintegrate over time, exhibiting continual regeneration of colour and form. The video will play around-the-clock, forever in April, or until we’ve blown all of our bulbs.” – Ed Lust.
In the aftermath of the devastating 22 February 2011 earthquake, Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA) in Ōtautahi Christchurch closed its main gallery space to allow for structural assessments and eventual repairs.
During this time of transition, curator Chloe Geoghegan envisioned a pair of temporary site-responsive installations that would activate the gallery’s only publicly accessible spaces: its large front window and carport.
The first of these interventions was Screensaver, a projection installation by Ed Lust. Installed in 2012, Screensaver transformed CoCA’s concrete carport into a street-facing micro-cinema, allowing the work to be experienced by passersby at all hours of the day and night.
The installation consisted of two overlapping video projections, superimposed in real time onto a screen housed within the carport.
The large street-facing window was obscured and activated by a black polythene sheet punctured with thousands of tiny holes. These perforations, reminiscent of a galactic cloud, offered a physical hint at the visual mechanics within.
The polythene surface referenced the ever-present construction barriers and visual obstructions scattered across the city in the wake of the earthquakes, making the work site-specific both conceptually and materially.
Screensaver was part of a larger curatorial intention to engage with the fractured, transitional nature of post-quake Christchurch. On Gloucester Street, where CoCA is located, buildings were being demolished around the installation.
The backdrop of earthworks, exposed rebar, and empty lots became an unspoken frame for the projections, echoing the instability and surrealism of daily life in the city.
By reactivating CoCA’s frontage with contemporary experimental work, Chloe Geoghegan and the participating artists Ed Lust and Sam Eng, whose project We Won’t Need Legs to Stand followed Screensaver, created a thoughtful and timely response to the cultural and physical conditions of a city in flux.
Screensaver was made possible due to electrical engineering by Andrew Ching.
