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Leading London-based artists Oli Epp and Maja Djordjevic have excited the South East with the launch of a new, rotating public art project on Brighton seafront. Strategically positioned between the iconic nudist beach and the bustling Brighton Pier, they have transformed two classic red telephone boxes into showcases for contemporary art.
The project has kicked off with an inaugural installation by Maidstone born artist Rosie McGinn, an artist celebrated for her exploration of emotional extremes through an eclectic mix of mediums.
Born in 1993, Rosie McGinn has created a new body of work depicting two stuffed sculpture ‘beings’ stuck in the bit before lift off. Each is equipped with space gloves, lunar boots and breathing apparatus. The astronaut couple stare out onto the sea’s horizon, across the English Channel. The artwork is accompanied by an atmospheric sound design [created by Ollie Dook]
We sat down with commissioned artist Rosie McGinn to discuss the process and the future of the project.
Rosie – your installation features two ‘beings’ equipped with space gear, staring out across Brighton beach. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind this work and what message you hope to convey?
RM: Initially I was stuck on this idea that the two phone boxes could be two capsules keeping some sort of ‘being’ safe, either from the oxygen outside or the lack of oxygen awaiting them in space. So you’re not sure whether these guys have just landed or whether they are about to lift off… or whether they are human or in fact some other human shaped being.
Anyway, this then developed into a narrative that followed a pair of lovers sitting patiently awaiting their lift off from Brighton beach, anticipating a journey to the far reaches of the universe. The basic idea is that they are leaving their beloved planet earth behind so it may ‘grow in without them.’ It’s an unusually selfless human act and a goodbye letter to home.
It’s beautifully romantic, in both an environmental and personal way. As you say in your statement, it is a “goodbye letter to home.” Can you delve deeper into this theme and how it relates to the current state of the world or personal experiences?
RM: I think sometimes the way climate change is framed is as if we are destroying the planet…which to some extent we are but the brutal reality is that the planet will go on turning without us, in fact it will flourish without us, so humanity is in fact destroying itself.
Nature is and always will be bigger than us. For me I feel that when I look out into a baron landscape or I look up at the stars or when I stare out at the sea’s horizon (or across the English channel) and it makes me feel small. I liked the idea of using these two characters to play with this idea or fictional world where the last two human beings might sacrifice themselves in order to allow the planet to thrive without them. Like leaving a relationship behind. And then that mad and unimaginable scenario opens up this rawness about how beautiful the earth is and how loved it is and how much it would be missed.
People are experiencing these sculptures in a new and often unexpected way. What do you hope the public will take away from encountering art in such an unconventional space as a phone box?
RM: Showing in spaces that aren’t an art gallery always opens up the work and creates way more interesting and brutal responses. I think it’s a great idea to sneak in a bit of art on someone’s commute to work. During the week we were installing loads of people would stop and chat and this woman said that she tells her daughter that if she” doesn’t clean her teeth before bed the space people would come and get her.” Like a ‘bigfoot’ myth or a modern day Brighton folk tale.
Your work combines visual art with an atmospheric sound design by Ollie Dook. How do these elements interact, and what role does sound play in enhancing the viewer’s experience?
Ollie had seen the space beings develop and I had asked him whether he would be up for creating a soundscape for them following the basic idea of counting them down to zero before lift off. I think he was actually on his way over to visit the studio and was listening to ‘I will always love you’ by Dolly Parton, the original to Whitney Houston’s hit, which we played a lot whilst driving through America.
As a Filmmaker he often approaches artworks with a sense of narrative and this song really spoke to and helped develop the story of two beings having to leave earth because ‘We both know that I’m not what you need’. In the audio we hear the immense, unaltered sound of a SpaceX rocket leaving earth. Then, from the distant silence, a pitch-shifted voice begins to sing. As the song takes form, you hear two voices full of pathos, a duet of both Dolly and Whitney personified as these telephonic space voyagers. In the crescendo, both mine and Ollie’s voices join in the chorus, before the line “I Will always Love You’ is echoed by a myriad of voice recordings gathered from voice notes sent over WhatsApp from our nearest and dearest. This transforms the pop song to a mantra, its focus set only on a feeling we know to be true in response to the overwhelming presence of infinite unknowns. A memento for our space beings on their journey, so they can remember why they’re doing what they’re doing.
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I will always love you will be visible until Fall 2024.