52 Spaces
CD & Performance

Performances
2002
British School at Rome premiere
Oxford Contemporary Music UK

2003
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery New Zealand
Copenhagen Denmark
DCA Scotland

2004
Netmage Festival Bologna Italy
RPI Troy USA
Eyebeam NYC USA
ISEA Helsinki Finland
Porto Portugal
Milano Italy

2005
Monterrey Mexico

Commissioned and produced by The British School at Rome for film director Michelangelo Antonioni's 90th birthday year, 52 Spaces uses sounds of the city of Rome and elements of The Eclipse (1962) to create a soundtrack of an image of a city suspended in time, anonymous and surreal.

52 Spaces uses sounds of the city of Rome and elements of The Eclipse (1962) to create a soundtrack of an image of a city suspended in time, anonymous and surreal. The result is a distilled narrative of seductive conversation, musical fragments and city soundscapes. Selecting a series of 52 framed images from the closing moments of the film slowed down to a kind of mnemonic slide show and accompanied by audio culled from the movie processed with twinkling elements from the soundtrack's original melody, Scanner conveys a complex and mysterious chronicle, offering up a space for contemplation and reflection as the soundtrack weaves an imaginary narrative.

L'Eclisse charts the beginning of the end, evoking a sense of loss, suggesting that modern industrial society can obliterate the emotions between people. Essentially about the relationship between a man and a woman, the emptiness of their affections mirrored in the iconic metropolis, Antonioni's classic film is reflected back to the audience in harmonics, hushed voices and sound effects. Through this performance, Scanner reconstructs an understanding of the characters, how they commune with their physical environment and how sound is crucial to our understanding of their story. Capturing, manipulating and redirecting these moments back into the public consciousness, 52 Spaces establishes an archaeology of personal experiences and missed connections, assembling a momentary forgotten past within our digital future.