Myles Painter
"This is how space begins, with words only, signs on the blank page"1
I work with film, video, sculpture and installation to produce work about the critical understanding of the discourse of architectural spaces, be they physical or theoretical. The physical architecture with which I am concerned is the kind of architecture that offers up stories of its history and present incarnation through an individual’s inhabitation and lived experience. My interest in theoretical architecture investigates a collective response and application of critical theories of architecture and its influence on the design of social and psychological space.
One of my main concerns is with the societal complexities and structural composition of a city. The appropriation of images and forms of the city through its use in cinema, photography and sculpture is key to my work. By re-editing this imagery into my own independent work I intend to represent a potential utopian or dystopian model for densely populated contemporary environments.
I see a strong link between the working processes of artists and writers and am currently concerned with building discursive and collaborative relationships with different practitioners to develop specific concepts and to better articulate those ideas.
At present I am investigating how the eschatological concept of ‘Apocalypse’ is manifested in contemporary culture and whether socio-political anxieties reflect or inform it. From this theory, as with the rest of my work, I aim to apply the information discovered through in-depth research and collaboration into works with alternative spatial and social narratives to determine the origins of the spaces we inhabit.