In the framework of a partnership between Edinburgh University and IUCN Urban Alliance, students of Edinburgh College of Art have created a series of experimental short films exploring the theme of ecological urbanism. The trailer and synopsis of one of the films are outlined below. The full-length films will be screened at the Urban Planet Pavilion during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France, in September 2021.
Logline
With precise, comedic, performance and a perpetual mechanical soundtrack, When are you going to cut the grass? satirises actions of control in the garden, situated in a world where things aren’t quite what they seem.
Synopsis
A gardener in a red boiler suit sets to work in a fabricated world which exists simultaneously outside and inside. Powered by a mechanical soundtrack the gardener performs actions of gardening with precision and moments of distortion. As the film develops the gardener takes moments to liberate their work and eventually lie down and reflect.
Team statement
We are interested in everyday occurrences of ecological destruction in the domestic setting. Furthermore how the acts are powered by the culture of the “perfect household”. When are you going to cut the grass? takes inspiration from the act of mowing the lawn, as an absurd act of slow violence. For most people in the UK this seemingly banal, everyday action is just part of life. We are interested in mowing and more broadly, gardening, as performative acts of control.
To understand these actions we began mimicking them and workshopping a performance to camera. Overtime we developed a minimal absurdist language in which to play with actions of cutting, watering and mowing in a constructed environment which deliberately blurs the boundaries of reality to make the audience do a double take.
With this film we question why are we doing these actions and why can’t we let the garden grow wild? What will that say about us? Will we damage our projection of the perfect neighbour who has everything under control?
Filmmakers Biographies
Director & Performer: Joanne Matthews
Joanne Matthews is an artist based in Edinburgh. Her work explores ecosystems, intimacy, and intuition. Working across disciplines her process involves listening, fieldwork and research motivated by how small details connect to big systems, building community and acts of liberation.
She has a BA in Modern Drama Studies and is currently undertaking an MFA in Art, Space & Nature, at Edinburgh College of Art.
Joanne’s work has been supported by Live Art Development Agency, Chapter Wales, Arts Council England, ONCA and Artsadmin.
Director & Editor: Hsin-Yi Wang
Hsin-Yi Wang is an architectural designer and artist from Taiwan, working through architecture, 2D&3D graphics, illustration and art film. She is currently doing her MFA degree in Art, Space & Nature at Edinburgh College of Art.
Influenced by the methodology in architecture design, her practice is based on humanism and social science but developed into expressive narrative. Her current artworks are inspired by landscape and natural environment. She aims at exploring the invisible interactions between nature and humanity through fieldwork, and to think about how human forces intrude into the environment.
Sound Designer: Nicholas Escobar
Nicholas Escobar is a music composer. He has composed music for several different types of media including film, theatre, commercials, web series, art exhibitions, academic projects as well as concert works.
He is a 2018 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a major in English and minors in Music and Global Medieval Studies. He is currently completing a masters degree in Music Composition for Screen at the University of Edinburgh.
Credits
Filmed, edited & directed by Joanne Matthews & Hsin-Yi Wang
Sound design by Nicholas Escobar
Thanks to Yulia Kovanova, Ross Mclean, Russell Galt, Donald Urquhart and Edinburgh Tool Library