Credit: “Magic Carpet, Afrikaburn 2016, photo by Chris Leggatt
Artists are making art! As the end of January approaches, workshops, sheds, backyards and garages around Aotearoa are buzzing with activity. We bring you glimpses of art-in-progress, starting with Reality Glitch, a piece by brand-new Kiwiburner, Jo:
Tell us about your previous experience bringing making Art for a Burn.
I’ve created two mobile artworks for AfrikaBurn. They were both mutant vehicles made out of cars – one was a magic carpet and the other was a unicorn skeleton. The magic carpet started as a Ford fiesta: we had a whole team for that one, we cut off the roof and doors with an angle-grinder, and used that as a base for the carpet on top. For the unicorn skeleton, I made a costume for a pick-up truck.
Describe the piece you’re bringing to Kiwiburn – without giving too much away!
The artwork is called Reality Glitch. It’s a corner of your grandmother’s living room, teleported into the forest at the Burn. It’s a weird shape cut out of a room which looks like it’s warped out of one reality into another. It’s got wallpaper and lots of pictures and a lamp and carpet, all the regular things you’d expect to find in such a room, but also other things…
How will Burners be able to interact with it?
It’s not a closed-off thing, so people can easily wander in and out of it, just like it’s a bit of the forest. There will be no barriers between people and the art piece.
How long have you been working on Reality Glitch?
I feel like I’ve been making it for about three months now. Just before the Arts Grants closed, I decided I wanted to make something, had lots of ideas and narrowed it down to this.
How will you transport it to the Paddock?
It comes apart into four pieces and each of those is about 1.2m by 1.2m. I’ll need to hire a trailer as there’s no way it’s going to fit into my car, but I haven’t sorted this out yet!
Can you tell us a bit about the purpose of the piece?
To amaze and to delight; I really want something unexpected and reality-warping for people. I am hoping people will stumble across it and be surprised, and have a sense of wonder.
