Mark Dudiak and Cedric Bomford: My Home Away from Time

Neutral Ground
August 26 - October 6, 2006

The concept behind My Home Away From Time has potential. Two artists in two different locations take photographs of their surroundings and send the undeveloped roll of film to the other. Both artists then develop the film and respond to what the other has photographed by shooting another roll of film, which is subsequently sent off undeveloped so that the process can be repeated. Unfortunately, the end result of this project, the exhibition, falls short of what might have been an interesting statement on the role of the artist.

Before entering the exhibition space, I had the opportunity to read a curatorial statement by Brenda Cleniuk. I found the essay somewhat self-indulgent; it is more concerned with the writer and her task and, as a result, does not respond sufficiently to the actual artwork. Possibly, this is the result of Cleniuk's desire to "keep [her] opinions about the artist and their work objective and not about [her] needs and desires to become credited with something that would in turn make [her] more special than the artist." In order to avoid saying something that might be perceived as biased, Cleniuk opts instead to say quite a lot about her approach to writing about the art. Identifying one's perspective or process is fine, but the emphasis should remain on the art.

The artwork itself consists of digital images of the photographs projected onto two screens, placed on the floor and angled slightly toward one another. Images remain on the screen for a few seconds before switching to the next, each switch being accompanied by a slide-projector-style click. In front of the screens, Dudiak has placed the digital projectors and a tangle of cords. I assume that the tangle of cords was added to give the installation a sculptural feel, an attempt to inject more visual interest into what is otherwise a fairly dull piece. Watching the passage of images is like sitting at dinner with two friends who work together and who are swapping work-related stories. The coworkers might be endlessly interested in their shared experiences, but you end up on the periphery of the conversation, as if listening to an extended inside-joke. Similarly, the conversation set up between Dudiak and Bomford is probably far more interesting to the artists. This alienation of the viewer is made worse by the placement of the screens on the floor, a timid gesture that betrays a lack of faith in the work, and by the tangles of cords that prevent the viewer from approaching the screens, an apt metaphor for the inaccessibility of the piece. If the work is a challenge to relational aesthetics, as the curatorial essay states, the artists have gone too far in the other direction.

However, I do think that there is potential in the project. I am particularly interested in the romantic, nostalgic element; as digital media increasingly replaces film, we lose that delay between desire and fulfillment. With a digital camera we can see what we have done immediately, edit photographs on the spot, reshoot when we need to. Film, however, requires that we wait. Dudiak and Bomford have increased this delay, and have used it to force themselves to relinquish control. However, for these themes to reach the viewer, the artists would have to take creative control back, in the end, to present a resolved and engaging work.

Angela Beck