1 - 24. Titles and stills from video art collaboration between Mark C. Hewitt and digital artist Matt Parsons.
A collection of 8 stylistically coherent black and white micro-videos that use spoken text and found footage to create oblique dreamlike narratives. Each piece is voiced by a different actor.
These miniature works were conceived as non-illustrational visual counterparts to an enigmatic poem sequence with the overarching title, Les Coffrets, meaning the boxes, related to the shape of the poems on the page. The 'authorial voice' in these texts is largely abandoned in favour of chance elements, such as words seen on clothing or lines of overheard conversation or phrases from online advertising. As such, these narratives offer no consoling message. The visual aesthetic pays homage to classic film noir and early Surrealist photography.
25 - 28. Les Coffrets / Premium and MCH at the Arte Laguna Prize finalists exhibition, Arsenale Nord, Venice, March 2023.
29 - 32. Les Coffrets / Excuses and MCH at the Arte Laguna Prize finalists exhibition, Arsenale Nord, Venice, November 2024.