BREAKING UP

A 55 minute film
consisting of 12 short movies of 30 seconds to 5 minutes duration

Breaking Up is a moving installation which documents the demolition of Cranfield's Mill, where now stands the tallest building in East Anglia and the home of the New Jerwood Dance House on the Ipswich Waterfront.

Cranfield's Mill, which stood opposite St Mary at the Quay Church, was part of the group of nineteenth and twentieth century buildings where many local families were employed. Four years ago Mark became interested in the ideas around demolition and regeneration as he watched the disappearance of these buildings from his kitchen window. It sparked the desire to make some kind of record of the demolition and of the memories of workers whose history was vanishing.

Mark decided to try and record the building's interior as it was taken away and changed. He persuaded Waldringfield-based CDC Demolition Ltd to let him work as an artist in residence, during several months of demolition work in 2005.

He installed video cameras and sound recording equipment both inside and outside the demolition areas and through the process captured some extraordinary imagery. Footage was collected both wirelessly and via cable and cameras placed inside the buildings continued relaying images and sound until they were destroyed or their batteries failed. He also sought out former workers at Cranfields and taped their memories and stories of work in the buildings.

The installation consists of the shorts that are painterly and abstract in their form, they are viewed from below and above our eye level, we look down and up into spaces; the shots reveal uncertain views and imagery, some vibrate and others are brutal in their movement. The sounds of the people telling their experiences of employment at the Mill add time depth in between the noises of destruction. The resulting work is both raw and reflective, it is not a documentary or a story, yet it portrays in pictorial form the passage of history, the erasing of memories and of a place, a passing of time and record of an event that will change our sense of a place.

This event has been organised in collaboration with Mark Dixon and The Town Hall Galleries, Ipswich to coincide with the opening of the Jerwood Dance House.

A version of the work has been shown at Focal Point Gallery, Southend that was supported by Arts Council England, East.