Mutations

Mutations was a public art work commissioned by Artracks EK on behalf of the East Kent Cultural Consortium. The idea for mutations stemmed from a series of existing machines that I had constructed, which were built to disrupt types of communication. The machine consisted of a series of five microphone headsets, which were networked together using timers and switches and relayed conversations between different people. The conversations that passed through the microphones, as well as ambient sounds, were relayed through an untrained voice recognition system, which translated the audio input and projected it as text

Repetition & difference

Repetition and Difference is the first action-based research project undertaken by the MAKE Research Cluster at the University for the Creative Arts in Rochester. The project was developed to explore the way different practitioners within fields of art and design might approach the making of objects as a means of thinking through aesthetic and design concerns. As a first collective outing into the realms of action-based research the project was a success on a number of levels, consolidating a lot of hard work by a number of people in forming the cluster over the last year. In this context MAKE’s grateful thanks goes to all the participants who gave up their time to take part in the project and to the University for the Creative Arts, the University of Kent and Georgetown University for their financial support in creating a forum for presenting the research

The Model Room

The Model Room is a documentary film directed by Terry Perk, exploring the work of the same name by the Scandinavian artist Olafur Eliasson. The installation, which was developed in partnership with the architect and geometrist Einar Thorsteinn, explores the nature of their collaborative partnership, as well as examining the role of analogue modeling within Eliasson's studio and practice

Inside-Out

There's always been something wonderfully mischievous about glancing through other's windows as one passes their houses: comparing interiors, catching a glimpse of their lives; the windows and lights of our homes framing a particular relationship between the private and the public. 'Inside-Out' was commissioned for the 2013 Cheriton Light Festival and directly played with this idea, engaging others in the act of peering into another's home. Installation at 23 Quested Road, Cheriton, Kent

Catoptromania

A collaborative project with Julian Rowe, Catoptromania was commissioned by The Watts Gallery in Surrey. A three-part installation, the works were developed in response to the specific architectural and rural context of the Watts Gallery and its collection, referencing the Art & Crafts movement of the late 19th century. The works were on public display from 27th November 2015 through until the 28th February 2016

Catoptromancy

A collaborative project with Julian Rowe, Catoptromancy was a public artwork commissioned by Hoodwink on behalf of Tonbridge Borough Council. Installed at County Square Shopping Centre in Ashford, Kent, the project sought to examine both the general and specific architectural context and spatial configurations of the shopping centre

Arthur Ducklin, Failed Demagogue

Arthur Ducklin (1917–1965) operated on the fringes of British politics in the 1950s and 60s as self-styled leader of the right-wing League of Albion. He is best remembered for his innovative style of political activism. Ducklin was an avid believer in “Peithonics”, the theory of mass manipulation pioneered by US psychologist S McKenzie Strutt. The central tenet of Peithonics was that “persuasion has nothing to do with truth”. Strutt developed the Peithotron, an electronic device claimed to influence the mood of a subject through the generation of low-frequency electromagnetic radiation at levels matching those of human brain activity. By combining frequencies in complex interference patterns, Strutt’s machine could be tuned to render a state of suggestibility in bystanders. In 1957 Ducklin acquired a Peithotron, and deployed it at League rallies with the intention of making easy converts. The effect relied upon a degree of rage in the audience, which the machine could exacerbate. Ducklin’s confused ideology undermined his ambition to found a mass movement and he eventually turned his attention to supporting the campaigns of others. He was often to be seen with his Peithotron in the background at political rallies around the world. His death in a remote town in Panama was both sudden and unexplained. We are grateful to League of Albion Publishing, for their generous loan of Ducklin’s original Peithotron to this exhibition

Six Memos

Six Memos was commissioned in 2014 for the exhibition 'Despite Efficiency: Labour' at the Herbert Read Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury

Your geometric engagement

Unspoken Spaces is the first major book on Olafur Eliasson's architectural projects and works in public spaces around the globe. The book explores the artist's driving interest in finding visionary shapes to represent abstract ideas, and presents an extraordinary visual journey through spheres, tunnels, towers, walkways and archways, as well as pavilions and larger buildings realized by Eliasson and his studio since the late 1990s. This text by Perk and Diehl is one of eight essays in the book that give further insight into the work of Olafur Eliasson

Centipede

In the 1970s, Folkestone Harbour was the focus of a secretive research project that led to a controversial discovery. An international team set out to replicate the forty-year-old project. The research project is sponsored by the International Cryptoarchaeology Research Foundation, the INTERREG initiative of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the University of Lens