Apocalyptic visions of rural New Zealand

Apocalyptic visions of rural New Zealand

You’re hard pressed to find some time on the computer in the household of ex-New York and now Wanganui based artists Brit Bunkley and his wife Andrea Gardner.

“We’re both computer nerds,” he laughs, and unfortunately living in the outskirts of Wanganui, they are on rather slow dial-up. This hasn’t stopped him creating a virtual take on rural New Zealand that is both eerily disquieting and fantastic after hundreds of hours at the computer.

Slow train 'a comin' opens at the New Zealand Film Archive mediagallery on Thursday 7 June. A series of short videos set in the New Zealand countryside transform from the idyllic to reveal strange new genetic creations; a jet flies through a sheep’s head, a snow-covered mountain melts into a field, and a train travels through the skin of a cow.

Bunkley says his work plays on a paranoid fear of (non religious) apocalyptic doom, inspired in part by the science’s experiments/tinkering in the gene pool, and the way issues such as global warming will play an increasing part in our lives. The video vignettes were created by compositing photorealistic 3D animations with digitally altered footage of rural New Zealand. The resulting effects are both convincing and unsettling, but despite the apocalyptic images Bunkley also manages to infuse Slow Train ‘a comin’ with a measure of dark humour.

Bunkley is the head of sculpture and a lecturer in digital media at Wanganui UCOL in Wanganui, New Zealand. He has lived in the rural environment for twelve years after leaving the city life of Brooklyn, New York behind. Taking his experience of migration to the South Pacific, Bunkley portrays anxiety about the modern world on his astro-turf setting. It’s a spooky warning of sorts of the blasé attitude of New Zealander’s to the safety of their environment.

“I lived for years with a view of the World Trade Centre out my window and I never really liked it in New York. Now I live with the view of two volcanoes from my studio window and there’s a certain Lynchian spookiness to it all – something sinister behind the beautiful. I love that small town idea of creepiness. In saying that Wanganui is pretty uptopian. I love it here.” His work has appeared in many solo and group shows and is in public and private collections in New Zealand and the USA. In addition he has completed numerous public commissions (viewable at http://www.britbunkley.com/galsculp.html) while also receiving several grants and fellowships including the National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship grant, New York State artist fellowship, and the Rome Prize Fellowship.

At the same time as Slow Train a Comin’ exhibits in Wellington, it will also be part of two international festivals of digital art. The 404:International Festival of Electronic Art is currently travelling through Central Europe.

The Virtual Residency will be streaming live in Poland, Germany and Luxembourg. The URL is http://www.virtual-residency.net/ - Handwerkergasse at the World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte

EXHIBITION DETAILS Slow Train a Comin’ Thursday 7 June - Saturday 23 June at the New Zealand Film Archive mediagallery, cnr Taranaki and Ghuznee Sts

ENDS

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