The Dead Zone

“Running in the street conveys an impression of terror. The victim’s fall is already mimed in his attempt to escape it. The position of the head, trying to hold itself up, is that of a drowning man, and the straining face grimaces as if under torture. He has to look ahead, can hardly glance back without stumbling, as if treading the shadow of a foe whose features freeze the limbs.”

TV Moore’s two channel video installation, The Dead Zone (2003), shows a young man running in slow motion barefoot through the evacuated streets of the Sydney central business district. There is no other human presence. The identity of the pursuer is not known but whoever or whatever it is has fixed dread upon the young man’s face and has drained his body to exhaustion. The man runs endlessly as though caught in a bad dream. Each shot is filmed in a single take. Incidental details of the monochrome city—buildings, cars, signs, lights—drift into view. The two channels are projected onto two opposing walls. In one, the man runs away from the camera. In the other, he is filmed running towards the camera but it is played in reverse. The camera tracks the young man down the street, maintaining a constant distance. The effect of the two images facing each other is that perhaps the man is running from himself. The viewer stands between the two screens in the void that Moorecalls ‘the dead zone’.

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TV Moore graduated from SydneyCollegeof the Arts in 1999. In 2000 he exhibited his video installation, Urban Army Man, at Artspace Sydney (catalogue essay by Richard Grayson, Director of 2002 Biennale of Sydney). In 2001 he was selected for Primavera at the Museumof Contemporary Art, Sydney. In March 2004, Mooreexhibited his ten-channel video installation, The Neddy Project, at Artspace, Sydney. Other solo exhibitions for 2004 include Concrete 000 (with Shaun Gladwell) at the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaideand Smoke ‘n’ Mirrors a solo exhibition at Gertrude Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne. Group shows for 2004 include The Plot Thickens: Narratives in Australian Art at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne and an AustralianCentre for the Moving Image/Asialink initiative touring exhibition, I thought I knew but I was wrong: new video art from Australia. Mooreis a recent recipient of the prestigious Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship. The Dead Zone was awarded High Commendation in the 2003 Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship. The Dead Zone is TV Moore’s first exhibition with Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.