Emily Wardill: Sea Oak

EMILY WARDILL‘s Sea Oak was developed from a series of interviews conducted with the The Rockridge Institute, a left-orientated think tank located in Berkeley, California. From 2001 until its closure in April 2008, the Institute researched contemporary political rhetoric with special emphasis on the employment of metaphor and framing.

The strict absence of images throughout the film is introduced by institute member Eric Haas. He describes how, in everyone’s imagination, the word “bird” evokes a similar imagined creature. This prototypical bird exists only in common thought (“We don’t think of an ostrich or a penguin…”) and provides the idea of an image to begin a film consisting only of black leader and sound.

Sea Oak puts trust in rationality, enlightened thinking and the frames of reference in which facts are made to appear transparent and up for discussion.

In the sole spotlight of the space, only the apparatus can be seen, the film projector, staged like a sculpture.

EMILY WARDILL (b.1977) is a London-based British filmmaker. She has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, including at the ICA, London (2008), Fortescue Avenue/Jonathan Viner, London (2005 and 2006), STANDARD (OSLO) (2008) Grizedale, Lake District, and PS1 Contemporary Art Centre, New York (2004). Her work has been screened at the Art Now Lightbox, Tate Britain; the International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; Witte de With, Rotterdam, MOCA, Miami and the London Film Festival. She is currently working towards solo shows at de Appel, Amsterdam and The Showroom, London.

This exhibition is co-presented by the Images Festival.