The following films were made during 1 to 4 day residencies in VAI's artspace at St Mary's at the Quay, Ipswich, for Sideshow, Nottingham, at the Foundling Museum, London and as part of the Stoke on Trent arts festival Axis 08. The central idea of the project is that the process of film making is out of my immediate control.

I approach the project by bringing lots of self powered automata and camera carrying devices into a space. The other ‘actors’ are usually clockwork and battery power automata cobbled together from bits and pieces. These creatures seldom perform as expected, breaking, failing and surprising in turn. The ensuing films are always highly local and contingent relying almost totally on whatever is to hand.


Then & There from Alex Pearl on Vimeo.


Automatic Film II - sideshow from Alex Pearl on Vimeo.