The work was open for viewing only during the Summer Screenings 2024.
THE LARGE BLUE by Jan Adriaans Australia, Netherlands (2024)
A two-screen video based on the book Undercover: ‘The True Story of Britain’s Secret Police’ and witness statements from victims. The narrative revolves around the audition of a cop becoming an undercover agent and incorporating a new identity. He is trained to lie and act as a likable and trustworthy person. The video is set in Melbourne and therefore only speculative, based on rumors. It is edited as a shattered timeline, with parallel realities, where in retrospect nothing seems what it really was.
Starting as a small group in the 1960s, a time of violent student riots, the British undercover police unit steadily grew in the decades that followed. Its main task being to infiltrate activist circles. In this way, they were close to the people concerned, and saw how they conducted their political actions. Romantic relationships were seen as necessary and condoned by these men’s superiors.
Mimicry is a trait of parasites, such as the caterpillar that, to get enough food, mimics the pheromones of ants. Once taken into the nest, the large caterpillar gets preferential treatment. It can eat all the larvae undisturbed, slowly but surely depleting the colony.
The caterpillar pupates into a large blue butterfly.
Director’s statement
My work examines social structures of power by looking at its biological patterns. By drawing a parallel with the animal, the set of constraints we are subjected to, become more apparent. It is the way we think and act, not only understood as social but also as a natural phenomenon. How do these forces interplay and what does that say about how we could structure society at large?
My work consists of video, photography, sound, and text.
Bio
I exhibited, screened, or/and spoke at Seoul Museum of Art Storage, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kunsthal Rotterdam, The Nunnery Gallery London, Rencontres Internationales Paris, Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam, Taak Amsterdam, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Museum of Yugoslav History Belgrade, Darwin Museum Moscow, IMPAKT festival Utrecht, The Wrong new digital art biennale, BB15 space for contemporary art Linz, University of Melbourne, Bangkok Biennale screening in a by lecture Aarti Sunder.
Mark Kennedy / Mark Stone DAMIEN HARRISON
Megan SASHA LEONG
Jill ELISA ARMSTRONG
interviewer’s voice, audition JENNA NATION
camera operator 01 MATT QUATTRO
sound design CHARLY VAN REST SILENT M STUDIO
improvisations SASHA LEONG, DAMIEN HARRISON
screenplay edit DAMIEN HARRISON
screenplay, Camera 02, Music, Edit JAN ADRIAANS
equipment THE VISION HOUSE MELBOURNE
The video is based on ‘UNDERCOVER, The True Story of Britain’s Secret Police’ by
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis
Pebbles Underground is focused on showcasing and promoting experimental, avant-garde, underground, and no-to-low budget projects by artist-humans from all over the world. Absurd, uncanny, witty, humorous, slow-video – all are welcomed, and loved.
Pebbles Underground is an independent project not funded by any government or corporation, and we intend to keep it that way. Main source of funding is personal donations from humans organizing the project, who are artists themselves, and the main drive of the project is formed by the energy and involvement of the organizers, and the public.
