Shipping container washes up on th beach at Saltend.
Finding a model Vauxhall Corsa to match 'Y194LPP'. Photo: Priscila Buschinelli
'Y194 LPP' was a pale green Vauxhall Corsa. Like all the other cars in 'Washed up Car-go' it was chosen for its banality and ability to blend into an ordinary car park in the UK.
Before the film begins to play there would have been a still image of Triton displayed on the screen. In this car it was a detail from a painting called 'The Union of Earth and Water' by Paul Rubens.
The Music:-
'Da Himmlische Leben' translates as 'This Heavenly Life' by Carl Orff. The words describe an idyllic, decadent and easy lifestyle featuring, amongst other things, fish jumping out of the water just to be eaten – I saw this as a fitting comparison to our easy, consumerist life style of today.
The film has a long slow lead in as the shipping container reaches the beach. Stick with it until it finally beaches itself; empties and the Vauxhall Corsa emerges in a subtle reference to the film 'Jaws'. When the film was played in its proper context- ie. on the beach inside the real Vauxhall Corsa - it was this moment where the film and the previously arbitrary car came together.
The screen for this piece was made from stretched toy animals over a driftwood frame tied together with found pieces of rope and string in a Robinson crusoe type way. The beach where much of the film footage was shot was coincidentally the one where I set fire to my driftwood boat 'Seascape Escape' 28 years previously at a place called Saltend.
Before the film begins to play there would have been a still image of Triton displayed on the screen. In this car it was a detail from a painting called 'The Union of Earth and Water' by Paul Rubens.
The Music:-
'Da Himmlische Leben' translates as 'This Heavenly Life' by Carl Orff. The words describe an idyllic, decadent and easy lifestyle featuring, amongst other things, fish jumping out of the water just to be eaten – I saw this as a fitting comparison to our easy, consumerist life style of today.
The film has a long slow lead in as the shipping container reaches the beach. Stick with it until it finally beaches itself; empties and the Vauxhall Corsa emerges in a subtle reference to the film 'Jaws'. When the film was played in its proper context- ie. on the beach inside the real Vauxhall Corsa - it was this moment where the film and the previously arbitrary car came together.
The screen for this piece was made from stretched toy animals over a driftwood frame tied together with found pieces of rope and string in a Robinson crusoe type way. The beach where much of the film footage was shot was coincidentally the one where I set fire to my driftwood boat 'Seascape Escape' 28 years previously at a place called Saltend.
Cutting open a rubber shark...
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..and pulling out..
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...a Vauxhall Corsa.
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'Triton', a 'The Union of Earth and Water' by Paul Rubens
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The speaker/conch shell. Holes drilled in the window are in the shape of a spiral. Photo: Annette Sooda
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The shipping container in the muddy water of the Humber
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Filming in the mud at Saltend. Photo: Priscila Buschinelli
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The rear of the projection screen made from sticks of driftwood and stretched rubber sharks from 'The Deep' gift shop.
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The screen and on the right you can just make out the model 'Corsa' projecting the image.
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View through side window of the screen
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The film from inside the car. Very gradually the container floats along the Humber. Eventually it washes up ashore and disgorges its contents.
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