AirSpace

Multimedia.

Description
Durational A/V Installation

“In the shadow of Amy Johnson, Charles Lindbergh, Antoine de Saint Exupery, Brian Milton and Jennifer Murray et al, composer, sound artist and pilot John Kefala Kerr enacts a real-time flight between the two places he calls home—Newcastle, UK and Volos, Greece. Using flight simulator software, JKK traverses a virtual distance of some 1500 miles using a single-engine piston aircraft, navigating a technically challenging route with stops en route for refuelling.”

AirSpace explores the theme of identity via the metaphor of endurance flight, conflating the transcendent myth of ‘the skies’ and the abstract regulatory areas of ‘airspace’ as defined by Control Zones – ATZs, CTRs TMAs, etc—the piece seeks to narrate dilemmas of fixing, orienting and locating geographical and spiritual self.

AirSpace enacts the navigational practices associated with solo endurance flight, draws on historical and biographical accounts and uses simulation, live action, video projection, composed music and sound recordings gathered from places under the flightpath. Throughout the 15-20 hr performance the ‘airspace’ of the piece itself—the gallery, theatre, site, etc.—undergoes a transformation as the paraphernalia of flight planning and the disposable ephemera of food and drink consumed en route, pocketed souvenirs and the contents of a portable plastic urinal, accumulate.

Duration
15hrs

First Performance
19 October 2002, Waygood Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, prod. KOPCO