Bamboat | Mitchell
HD Video Installation, Stereo + 3.1 surround installation mix, 28 mins, 2018
Music Composition and Sound Design by Richy Carey
Special Works School was the codename used by the British War Office between 1917-1919 for a group of artists tasked with the job of ‘camoufleur’ - painters, textile artists, scenographers, designers, sculptors and scenic painters who were employed by the military to work specifically on developing camouflage technology. The artist, armed with the skill of rendering their surroundings with utmost acuity, was appointed to make things disappear. Bamboat | Mitchell’s Special Works School takes its name from this military unit to investigate the connections between artistic practice and surveillant technologies.
It was the first project I worked on with Sharlene Bamboat and Alexis Mitchell, working together under Bamboat | Mitchell. The soundtrack to the film was made before any of the images were shot, and is narrated by three colours; sand, cyan and purple, and a chorus. We worked on ways of sonifying these characters, as well as developing a sound design and musical score that illustrated the dissolution of these three colours other senses; touch, taste, sight and smell.
First shown at Gallery TPW, Toronto. January 13–February 24, 2018. Photo documentation by Toni Hafkenscheid (TPW) and Corinna Mehl (Berlinale).