Brick Fall, Glass Wall

16 July - 20 August 2016

Opening Friday 15 July, 5:30pm

Walking past a glass wall is walking away from the past, is walking beside an acetone version of one's self. By acetone, I mean cyan. Shades of cyan. Detail is absent in the glass wall, porousness is absent, depth is predictable, inside is knowable.

Drool and drink is wiped from the glass. The cloud left by the hand is wiped from the glass. The glass wall – one side of the glass building. Stroking a glass building is stroking glass. Stroking the glass is feeling the face of the post-industrialist landscape. Smooth.

The sensation of walking past a glass wall is the result of the proximity of glass in relation to the body. The sensation is uniform, the touch is monotonous. The action is reminiscent of walking past the bank. The bank was glass. The bank is glass. Many glass buildings make glass blocks.

Brick Fall, Glass Wall is a new moving image and sound installation by Amy Howden-Chapman. The project looks at the phenomenological effects and ideological signifiers generated by a built environment dominated by glass. Historical examples of mirrored and glass architecture from the Southern California landscape are presented as early precursors to the glass buildings that have become ubiquitous in contemporary urban environments, as witnessed in the Christchurch rebuild.

Amy Howden-Chapman is an artist and writer, originally from New Zealand and currently based in the USA. She holds an Honors degree in Art History and a MA in Creative writing, both from Victoria University, and received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts. She is a co-founder of The Distance Plan.Org, a platform that seeks to promote the discussion of climate change within the arts.