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Interview with Sacha Waldron, freelance writer and curator. August 2012.

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What brought you two together to collaborate and what stimulated the production of the Metropolis work?

After being curated in several shows together, we realized there were similar themes running through our work that included the use of archive photography as a starting point for sculptural investigations. We also shared a strong interest in using the architectural model in a fine art context, and the incorporation of ambiguous narratives. We also used elements of nostalgia as subject matter, especially nostalgic visions of the future from the modernist era. This connection led us to initiate  ‘ phase 1’, a joint show that saw a complimentary relationship form between our work, and initiate our collaboration. After several conversations, we both agreed that all our shared interests seemed to coalesce in the symbolic narratives of future orientated world fairs.

 

What do you find particularly interesting about World's exhibitions/fairs?

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One of the elements that attracted me to the phenomenon of world fairs was the remaining pavilions and constructions that are dotted over the globe such as Buckminster fullers Geodesic dome in Montreal, the Atomium in Brussels or the Seattle space needle, these remnants appear like memorials to the failed utopian dream of their era. Apart from these decaying follies, the only lasting legacy is in documentary archive, which seen out of context engenders a wonderful blurring of fantasy and reality. I also like the idea of entering into a symbolic representation of the world through fictional national narratives, consequently creating a physical reduction in scale through models and pavilions contrasted with the grandiose themes they extoll.

Will your work on this theme continue? How will the Metropolis project develop?

 

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The Metropolis of tomorrow is just the starting point for a body of work that will create new narratives around the theme of lost and alternative futures.

Can you say a bit about the particular world's exhibition you focus on in the Metropolis work?

We chose the Democracity exhibit from the 1939 New York world fair initially because we both selected the same image, independently,as a starting point for our collaboration. The image depicted a huge futuristic model city encircled by viewing balconies that seemed to hover judicially above the earth. This world fair was the first to promote cultural exchange and utopian ideas with a future orientated outlook. The Democracity was heavily influenced by Corbusier’s radial city proposal and modernist ideologies of the time.

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