motion in division
Single-channel projection, 10:00. Three rows of plastic white chairs arranged in a semi circle.
In Motion in Division, the reactive qualities of water are used to observe on the operational dynamics of concrete hydrological systems. By situating water as a method of inquiry, the work examines how conceret’s perceived permanence and hardness are in constant negotiation with the fluid, transient nature of water. Beginning with the reflective surface of black water that reflects the constraints of the concrete edges and pylons that contain the Nihonbashi River, Tokyo, water appears not as an passive element, but a reactive and responsive force in the spatial and material systems defined by concrete. Water here provides a lens outside of the self through which concrete’s operations, containment, erosion and integration into environments, becomes visible in real time and at a human scale.
Concrete’s material identity is defined by its hardness and its capacity to impose order. Yet, as the video work presents, this hardness is contingent and subject to continual revision through its interactions with water. The caustic interplay of light and shadow, and the rhythmic disturbances of water flowing down the stepped face of the Cotter Dam, ACT, Australia, serve as evidence of these ongoing material negotiations. Water’s capacity to respond to these external forces underscores its critical role as a system for observing the environmental and temporal vulnerabilities of concrete.
In its more dramatic sequences, such as the circular mixing of water at the edge of the Pregrada (the gate), Ljubljana, Slovenia on the Ljubljanica river at the eastern edge of the city, and the Cotter Dam footage, Motion in Division foregrounds the aesthetic and political dimensions of infrastructural design. The dam enforces geometric precision, compelling water into mechanised patterns of movement.
However, the resistance of water, which overflows and moves in unpredictable patterns that generate new visual forms, subtly undermines this imposed order. The patterns of water at these moments articulate tensions between control and fluidity, rigidity, and change, that define concrete as an environmental mediator.
The quieter moments of the video work presented in the fog-shrouded concrete drain at the fringe of an industrial zone in Mitchell, Canberra, Australia, further highlights water’s capacity to render concrete’s operations legible. Here, water’s gentle ripples, interactions with debris, and tracing of the boundaries of containment reveal the fragility and incompleteness of concrete’s structuring force. The scenes emphasise that concrete is not a static, invulnerable material but a system in negotiation.
Through visuals and sound, Motion in Division situates water as a critical apparatus for understanding the temporal and material conditions of concrete. By exposing the relational dynamics between these two elements, the work questions dominant narratives of infrastructural permanence and control, suggesting that instead of a view of concrete as contingent, reactive, and deeply embedded within broader ecological systems, for better or worse, opening a space for rethinking the role of concrete and an ordering system and environmental mediator, and these material-philosophical questions as a site of aesthetic inquiry.
