‘Woke Up in Spring’, 2018;

7 minute video installation

Mixed media video installation, 9 minutes
Carpet, foam, fake flowers, metal poles, kitchen pots, kettle.

‘Woke Up in Spring’ is a spring-themed video installation featuring an animated narcissus, an Heston Blumenthal lookalike, tulip bulbs and recurring covers of Wuthering Heights. Inside the Invites room a theatrical set evokes an artificial landscape populated by props and characters that intermittently aid and guide the narrative. The script contemplates an idea of the individual as a ‘savvy’ entertainer or employee. There are allusions to natural and artificial cycles of growth and loss, and the inevitability of these systems. Throughout three scenes, financial investments are framed as an emotional act, where patterns of ‘boom and bust’ mirror the structural rise and fall of personal losses, such as a failing romantic relationship or a caffeine crash. Signs and symbols have multiple and shifting meanings: the shape of a tulip bulb can echo a teardrop but also hint at speculative mania, a name of a flower can activate a classical myth of self-infatuation, and a celebrity lookalike offers a snapshot of regurgitated self-branding.

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