The Brown Sound. 2010
HD Video with sound (7.24 min per side - looping)
The Ultimate Brown Sound Record is a limited edition, 12" brown vinyl record produced by the artist in 2010. The Brown Sound is a low frequency audio phenomenon and this video demonstration is installed with bass sound system in a brown viewing booth with brown carpet.
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Automaton. 2006
HD widescreen video with sound. 6 min loop.
Filmed in one continuous take, Automaton is an elegently choreographed tracking shot around the black and chromed curves of a drum kit whilst
improvising percussionist Steve Noble plays a taught and pensive solo.
More information and images:
Drug Den. 2001
Video installation with sound. DVD 5 min. Dimensions variable.
In this video, a camera attached to a remote controlled vehicle explores an area of woodland floor. As the vehicle manouvres in and around the clearing, paraphenalia of drug use becomes evident to the viewer. The video was filmed synchretically, whilst listening to an electronic music track by Sonofapup (included in the final video).
Dick Donkeys Dawn. 1997 - 1999
DVD with sound. 5 videos - 26min.
Dower was a founder member of the band ‘Dick Donkeys Dawn’, together with Austrian artist Oliver Hangl and UK artist Georgina Starr. Between 1997 and 1999, Dick Donkeys Dawn produced songs, music videos and live performances. The DVD ‘Dick Donkeys Dawn – remixes by Dick’ contains live and recorded material by the band, videos and a documentary, which was shortlisted for the Ken Russell Short Film Award in 2004. More information and images:
No Room in Hell (Absent Qualia). 1997
3D Polarized video projection, in colour with sound. 17 min
No Room in Hell follows the descent of a group of Zombies on Matt's Gallery in East London. Shot in 3D colour and watched with polarizing glasses, the work engages the viewer in notions of physical cinema. As well as engaging in spectacle, the work explores Zombie consciousness in history and culture and questions the consumption of art. More information and images:
Shelter. 1996 - 2001
DVD with sound, 5 min.
Also a composite photograph of 12 images (128 x 76 cm)
35mm photographs taken in 1996 of a live concert by the ‘Krishna Core’ band Shelter were output to DVD from a screensaver program. The still images of audience paroxysms morph with images of the stage equipment and glide across the screen in a cross-fading sequence. The band is absent from the work, the electronic soundtrack is by Sonofapup (AKA Dower). More images:
3 Frame subliminal
3 Frame Subliminal. 1997
DVD with sound. Random play.
First distributed on Video at the Factual Nonsense 'Live Stock Market' in Hoxton, London. The DVD contains a subliminal image, which appears at random every 20 to 40 seconds on an otherwise black screen.
Clothes Recycling Video. 1996
DVD with sound. 28 min, looping.
The artist climbs into a series of clothes recycling containers on the streets of South London. Life on the outside continues and several minutes later the artist emerges transformed, wearing a new set of clothes found inside. Through the act of recycling, a subtle displacement of identity has taken place. More images:
Confidence Improvement Exercise. 1996
DVD with sound. 4 min.
Filmed on London Bridge, a pathetic shrouded figure with a box over it's head slowly emerges from the flow of pedestrians. The busy commuters mostly avoid dealing with this irrational incursion into their habitual existence. With seeming trepidation, the figure makes it accross the bridge and out of frame.
BMW 325i. 1994
Video projection with sound. 4.20 min.
The backdrop is London’s Bank of England and the video appears to be slowed-down CCTV footage. Made shortly after the announcement of the IRA ceasefire in 1994, this work was intended to mark the passing of a certain era of international terrorism. The threat of terrorism had hung over Britain and Northern Ireland for the previous 25 years, making this kind of incident an ever present possiblilty. More information and images:
Interview with Bruce McLean
Interview with Bruce McLean. 1994
VHS transfer to DVD with sound. 4 mins.
In this short film Dower interviews Bruce McLean about an increasingly absurd catalogue of incidents.The deadpan interviewer elicits a series of increasingly comical reactions from McLean. Laughter often has an infectious effect and this video similarly affects the viewer with its contagion.
Zou Zou's Mime. 1993 - 2006
Found U-matic video with sound. 4.30 min
A mime from cabaret clown Zou Zou's performance was reconstructed as a sculptural space (incorporating the original video from 1984) and has been exhibited internationally since 1993. The film was screened on the side of London's National Theatre in 1999. The artist found Zou Zou in 1999 and was able to invite him to an exhibition of the work in Antwerp. More information and images:
Zou Zou's Mime Reconstructed 1993
Spirit level
Spirit Level. 1993
Black and white video on DVD (with ambient sound). 11.42 min
In this real-time sequence for monitor, the artist tries to maintain his balance with the glass from a spirit level attached to his forehead. From a distance the image looks almost motionless, but when the viewer looks closer, the impossibility of absolute stillness becomes apparent.
Hot Music. 1993
SVHS transfer to DVD with sound. 4 min
Filmed in a single take, the artist climbs onto a white plinth and
mimes to a toy drum-machine, which is manipulated live to camera. The invisible but spatially consistent drum kit almost hovers before us, as the drummer plays along to the shifting patterns of the amplified toy. Normally exhibited on a monitor on a plinth, ‘Hot Music’ has also been performed live to audience.
The New Museum, Walsall - 2010
Bob's bowl & bike
Performance experiments, Basle. 1991
Colour VHS transfer to DVD with sound. 4.37min
Video of 2 kinetic, sound works made in Basle Switzerland, whilst on tour with the Bow Gamelan Ensemble.
1) Work for aluminium bowl, motor and bottle tops.
2) Work for bicycle, tabla and pressurised drum.
Bluebell wood. 1988
Black & white Super 8 film transfer to DVD. Silent. 1min .
A static camera records a section of woodland. After a time, a previously unnoticed figure leaps off a high branch and hits the ground. Dower grew up near these woods.
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