Peanut Crunch Meridian – The Specials Project

The result of regular visits to the Specials Lab near Newcastle, videoed over a 9 month period.

The piece became a four screen installation, and a video tower was constructed in their head office where it is permanently sited.

One video is the ‘controller’ which includes the audio track and various lip-sync elements, and this is accompanied by a further 7 ‘movements’ which can be played in any combination on the other 3 screens. The later single screen version is made from parts of the whole.

Here, the idea is to capture the essence of place; to distil documentary down to glimpses of recorded observation. Short clips are chosen for their pertinence and ‘global’ relevance, and the interspersing captions both anticipate and review what is said on screen, making a sort of poetry out of the seemingly mundane.

Developing a documentary language that is both conscious of narrative and its subjectivity, alongside a concern with less tangible aspects of ‘atmosphere’ is the aim of the piece. Aware of the linear nature of film language, narrative is approached as a cumulative experience rather than a singular journey through time with definite entry and exit points.

“…I didn’t want to have a fixed plan on going in there. I wanted it to grow. I want the piece to inform itself, with me as the cultural chemist” (taken from 23 October 2007, The Specials Project, Artists talking). Profiled in AN magazine November 2008 in their collaborative relationships series.