Sarah Jane Pell | Revolution

R E V O L U T I O N *
Media Performance | Bathers Bay | Western Australia

Expositions:
Boom! Australian-Taiwan New Media | TNUA | Taipei, Taiwan | 2007
Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts | Taipei, Taiwan | 2007
Freedman Awards | Stepps Gallery | Sydney | 2006
Hatched | Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts | Perth | 2006
Walking with Water | Western Australian Martime Museum | 2005

Conditions for the Performance:
During the Revolution 1937, circus acrobats were hired to train RAF personnel in the use of the Ayro Wheel. Images from the Getty Archives explains activity "This was not just a piece of fun. The aim was to help airmen learn how to avoid total dissorientation when a plane went into spin." In 'Revolution' I strapped my body to a lightweight Ayro Wheel (sometimes refered to as a German Wheel) and roll myself over and repeatedly along the beach towards – then in – the ocean.

Revolution was performed to camera in front a small impromptu audience gathered on Bathers Bay in April 2005. The crew included Adam Burke, David Hocking, Kirsten Hudson and me. We filmed the piece without rehearsal in a two-hour period. It was approaching dusk. The climate was brisk, the water crisp and there was evidence of an electrical storm approaching from Rottnest Island. According to the camera lens, the skyline was a brilliant contrast to the eerie steel waters and my pale flesh. There was an urgency and an electricity to our playfulness. The meteorolgical conditions were, in hindsight, a perfect ontological metaphor. Revolution documents a new kind of water-wheel engagement.

Exhibition Review:
Marshall, J., (2005) The Art of Life Support, Real Time & On Screen Vol 68, Aug/ Sep 2005, pp. 48

*Revolution is the sister performance to Second Nature Second Skin

Limited Edition Media Performance Set: Second Nature Second Skin & Revolution Cont. Projection DVD are available via Paypal shopping cart.

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