‘Karen Grainger’s clips are like commercials for existentialism, or a romantic sense of experience and mortality. They use the only element of landscape that doesn’t require us to be outside a city – the sky – and then introduce the synthetic, the mark of the human; language, the cybernetic register of a heartbeat, or the exalted (…) Sky TV goes literal with a series of similar skies: blue with clouds. Normally seen ‘in-between’, here clips constitute the main programme. The work has an intelligent/corporate tone, perhaps even cooler than what it is trying to emulate. This branding gives way to hallucinogenic strangeness when the sky begins to pulsate.’

[LESS]
‘Karen Grainger’s clips are like commercials for existentialism, or a romantic sense of experience and mortality. They use the only element of landscape that doesn’t require us to be outside a city – the sky – and then introduce the synthetic, the mark of the human; language, the cybernetic register of a heartbeat, or the exalted (…) Sky TV goes literal with a series of similar skies: blue with clouds. Normally seen ‘in-between’, here clips constitute the main programme. The work has an intelligent/corporate tone, perhaps even cooler than what it is trying to emulate. This branding gives way to hallucinogenic strangeness when the sky begins to pulsate.’

Work divided into the four segments of the title. The film has a minimal bland perfection that echoes cinematic brand identity film clips. First, white fluffy clouds move over a bright blue sky, as the outline of a see-through “up” arrow appears. On the soundtrack the classic music of cinema advertising plays, looped on itself. Second, a sky with white clouds that have a darker tinge. The clouds move with an edgy, juddering movement across the sky, co-ordinated with a juddering digital sound effect. Third, a 3-D letter “I” hovers in a blue sky to electronic music playing on the soundtrack. As the letter fades away a rising crescendo of noise plays, as it re-appears the noise subsides. Fourth, a sky with the sun glinting into the lens is presented. The word “live” is subliminally flashed or “blipped” onto the screen. As dark clouds gather and then move over the sun, the word “die” is subliminally flashed up. There is no soundtrack. Artist’s Statement: ‘My work currently attempts to simultaneously deconstruct and propose the sublime, exploring its manifestations and relevance to contemporary society. (…)’

[LESS]
Work divided into the four segments of the title. The film has a minimal bland perfection that echoes cinematic brand identity film clips. First, white fluffy clouds move over a bright blue sky, as the outline of a see-through “up” arrow appears. On the soundtrack the classic music of cinema advertising plays, looped on itself. Second, a sky with white clouds that have a darker tinge. The clouds move with an edgy, juddering movement across the sky, co-ordinated with a juddering digital sound effect. Third, a 3-D letter “I” hovers in a blue sky to electronic music playing on the soundtrack. As the letter fades away a rising crescendo of noise plays, as it re-appears the noise subsides. Fourth, a sky with the sun glinting into the lens is presented. The word “live” is subliminally flashed or “blipped” onto the screen. As dark clouds gather and then move over the sun, the word “die” is subliminally flashed up. There is no soundtrack. Artist’s Statement: ‘My work currently attempts to simultaneously deconstruct and propose the sublime, exploring its manifestations and relevance to contemporary society. (…)’