Rob Carter

Circvlvs (2008)

This video is made up of several thousand images that the artist photographed at the Lowes Motor Speedway, in Concord North Carolina. They document the 2007 Bank of America 500 NASCAR race. Shown here as a split-screen video, the images are comprised of a series of shots taken directly over the start finish line (approximately two stills per lap), and a selection of other views and details that describe the action of the 10 hour event in approximately 6 minutes. The soundtrack to the video is appropriated from the chariot race in the 1959 epic movie – Ben-Hur. The audio footage has been reassembled to fit and complement this similarly grueling modern day race.

NASCAR is the most popular sport in America, but it is also one of the most politically, environmentally and socially divisive in terms of its audience. This video forms an ironic dialogue between a modern day social and sporting gathering, the Roman version of 2000 years before us at the Circus Maximus, and the grand illusions and dissimulation of the Hollywood epic. It highlights the entrenched political divisions that exist in America today, and reaffirms the imperial understanding that the manipulation of the people by those in political or financial power is especially effective in the form of entertainment.

Metropolis (2008)

Metropolis is a quirky and very abridged narrative history of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. It uses stop motion video animation to physically manipulate aerial still images of the city (both real and fictional), creating a landscape in constant motion. Starting around 1755 on a Native American trading path, the viewer is presented with the building of the first house in Charlotte. From there we see the town develop through the historic dismissal of the English, to the prosperity made by the discovery of gold and the subsequent roots of the building of the multitude of churches that the city is famous for. Now the landscape turns white with cotton, and the modern city is ‘born’, with a more detailed re-creation of the economic boom and surprising architectural transformation that has occurred in the past 20 years

Charlotte is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, primarily due to the continuing influx of the banking community, resulting in an unusually fast architectural and population expansion that shows no sign of faltering despite the current economic climate. However, this new downtown Metropolis is therefore subject to the whim of the market and the interest of the giant corporations that choose to do business there. Made entirely from images printed on paper, the animation literally represents this sped up urban planners dream, but suggests the frailty of that dream, however concrete it may feel on the ground today. Ultimately the video continues the city development into an imagined hubristic future, of more and more skyscrapers and sports arenas and into a bleak environmental future. It is an extreme representation of the already serious water shortages that face many expanding American cities today; but this is less a warning, as much as a statement of our paper thin significance no matter how many monuments of steel, glass and concrete we build.

Reseed (2007)

Reseed is the result of eight weeks of filming, compressed into nine minutes. Seedlings emerge from the turf of the Wimbledon tennis courts, animating then dwarfing the static image. Finally everything is overrun and a single French marigold comes into flower. In this video the playing surface actually becomes the action or entertainment, but the game continues and the crowds keep clapping the performance. The significance of the game is in itself a fleeting event, but this video combines those fleeting moments with something that is even more momentary, and so slow we never ‘see’ it.

This England? (2007)

The basis for this video is a book called From the Pilot’s Seat. It contains a nostalgic series of aerial photographs of England taken just after the end of World War II, along with poetic quotes chosen by the author (Cyril Murrell). The images give us the odd glimpse of the destruction and bankruptcy of the country at this time, but mainly focus on the romance of its historic and natural riches. This video attempts to literally bring a forgotten book back to life, taking the viewer on a continuous flight over the land and supplying a sense of the author’s feeling towards these places. With the use of stop-motion and digital animation some of the locations have been manipulated to include the artist’s comprehension and memory of his ‘homeland’. These moments range from the trivial to the sinister and suggest a sense of frailty in these picturesque scenes. It is an attempt for the artist to rationalize and depict his understanding of the place he comes from, as well as the enculturation of his parents.

Foobel (An Alternative History) (2005)

This animated stop-motion video was made in direct response to social and political arguments over the construction of new sports stadiums, both in the US and UK. Though inspired by the somewhat ill-conceived plan to build a new JETS football arena on the west side of Manhattan, this video refers more directly to the English game of football, creating a brief, absurd history of the evolvement of the stadium from playing surface to ‘Babel-esque’ monstrosity. It is a satire of the need for bigger and bigger stages of any popular type of theatre at the expense of everything else. However it conflates the greed and absurdity of the issues with the thrill of the game and the epic religiosity associated with it.

A Kodak Recall (2004)

The opening scene of this animation shows a massive recall of cameras and film to the Kodak factory in Rochester, NY. Out of thousands of lost or unfulfilled photographs, the scene literally opens up into a semi-narrative journey depicting a camping trip gone awry. These found photographs were brought to life using stop-motion animation in order to alter and usurp their original meaning, whilst emphasizing the three-dimensionality of the paper itself. By literally cutting, twisting and bending the images and adding sound, they take on a quietly absurd narrative that transports the viewer from one environment into the next, whilst never escaping the simplicity and frailty of the illusion. Though video is itself a transient medium, this video focuses on that transience through the process of unraveling material still images, emphasizing their physical instability and their perceptual malleability.

Four Extracts From Stills (2004-05)

Four animated vignettes. Each one depicts a different aspect of human interaction with landscape, the outdoors and nature. As a group they reference the marks that humans have left on the landscape and environment, and their varying degrees of impermanence.

Get Back (2003)

A sheet of paper gives its own ‘sculptural performance’ through the process of looped stop-motion animation. It transforms itself into a paper airplane, then flies off, only to immediately crash into a windowpane, and transforms itself into a Fortune Teller (a child’s toy), which delivers a message. The imagery is accompanied by a soundtrack of ‘animated sound’, which reinforces the movements of the paper. It is presented as a back projection on a frosted Mylar screen, delicately hung from the ceiling by cotton thread.

This piece embraces several basic aspects of video: the illusion of movement and sound, our perception of three-dimensionality, and the relationship of form to text. It makes these issues visible and audible, persuading the viewer to enjoy the illusion and manipulation. The sheet of paper is presented as an endless cycle of renewal and re-invention. It is a humorous cycle of creation and failure that emphasizes fleeting moments of frustrated ‘freedom’, that contrast with segments of waiting for the paper to ‘perform’.

Paper airplanes, and ‘Fortune Tellers’ are iconic childhood toys. Practically every Western viewer can relate to the act of making and using such objects, so they have a significant level of emotional and nostalgic content. This idea that something so flimsy and minor can be so iconic and meaningful is somewhat amazing. The four lines of text that are presented by the ‘Fortune Teller’ during the course of the video are designed to contrast with the usual text written in such a childhood toy, yet they reference the act of making and flying a paper plane. They are therefore, imposed thoughts, and not predictions. However, the texts remain open to be interpreted as a person’s own personal understanding of the trials of a human relationship, or alternatively the more self-critical stance of the artist to what he/she makes. The text therefore relates the experience of making and presenting work, to the expectation of viewing it - both experiences involve a little mind reading or fortune telling.