Output details

West Hinder

West Hinder is a single-screen, 20-minute narrative video, incorporating live action, motion graphics, cinematic special effects, synthetic voice narration and musical soundtrack. It is intended for presentation as a single-screen gallery installation, although it is also occasionally screened in theatrical settings. This work draws on an archive of technical and point-of-sale literature produced for luxury cars and the vocabulary and phraseology of these documents is extorted and used to narrate the event of the sinking of the cargo ship Tricolor, in an area of the English Channel called West Hinder in 2002, with 2897 luxury cars in the hold.

Using a range of video resolutions from high definition to mobile phone streaming quality, the sub-aqua location of West Hinder is visualised as a dirty medium. The two interconnected environments of the car and the sea-bed are synthesised within the narrative, allowing for a figurative migration of characteristics between the environments, so that the cars become animate and a metaphoric reflection upon immersive technologies is produced. The piece was funded by Arts Council England and Film London through the Flamin Production Scheme, The Elephant Trust and the Royal College of Art Research Development Fund.

West Hinder premiered at Whitechapel Art Gallery, London and it was included in the artist’s solo show Here at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, for which she was nominated for and won the Turner Prize 2012. It was also included in Frieze Frame at Frieze Art Fair, London in 2012.