HOLD: VESSEL 1 and 2

Hold: Vessel 1 and 2 (2001, 2007) is an interactive installation that explores the intimacy and immensity of the natural world and our relationship to it.

The work is activated by the viewer, the interaction being a metaphor for our connectedness within biological, social and ecological systems. Upon entering the exhibition the visitor is encouraged to ‘catch’ falling projected images of astronomical and underwater life in lens-shaped glass bowls. With intimate moments of synchronised light and sound, HOLD celebrates minutiae – microscopic views of marine life forms and photographic imagery of deep space – leaving the visitor with a sense of communal participation within a complex environmental system .

HOLD was developed after Lynette experienced the coral spawning event on the Great Barrier Reef with a team of scientists and filmmakers. Evidence of climate change was already visible to those scientists as early as 2001. Revisiting the work in 2007 HOLD tracks changes to fragile marine environments struggling with climate catastrophe placing us, the viewer at the centre.

Hold Vessel 1 was commissioned by ACMI and produced by Lynette Wallworth.

Hold Vessel 2 was commissioned by BFI London and produced by Forma.