“An Experiment in Intervals III – Violet Desert” is a video work made in response to a decommissioned industrial plant in Barreiro, Portugal operated by the Companhia União Fabril from the early 20th Century. Ushering in what was intended to be the economic boom of industrialisation, it is now a toxic, barren site, standing as a reminder of both the promises and failures of this vision. The work characterises the quality of this site as one of “monstrous architectures” — a term used by Georges Bataille to refer not only to what is against the sacred but that quality which materialises in the machinations of state violence and industrial exploitation. The smokestack, the factory, the industrial zone — these denote spatial territories that are seen to materialise a disorder under God. The title — Violet Desert — references Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1968 film “Il Deserto Rosso”, an early critique of the impact of modernity on the individual and society.
These experiments in film will also satellite showcase at Bunjil Place and Metro Arts in Meajin (Brisbane).