Scum

Scum (collaboration with Damien Deroubaix)
(2011)
Installation

A multimedia installation created in collaboration with Damien Deroubaix.

Developed through collaborative discussion and referencing the work of both artists (particularly the Napalm Death ‘Scum’ album), Deroubaix and Bullen’s piece is a sculptural installation which includes painting, text, film and sound.

Three interlocking panels contain painted images and text referencing Bullen’s lyrics for the Napalm Death ‘Scum’ album. A series of short texts written by Bullen (Haiku poetry on the themes of language and communication) have been translated into Morse Code and are represented by holes drills into panels attached to the piece (puncturing the frame and surface of the structure). Further disruption of the fabric of the piece occurs through three video monitors embedded in the panels which play loops of Super 8mm film (created by Bullen). The films use text inscribed directly onto the clear film-stock which has then been manipulated and treated by hand. A sculptural network of wires emanates from points on the surface of the panels and spreads out across the gallery, pooling over microphone stands and attaching to an audio mixing desk. The microphone stands are situated in front of a sound installation by Bullen which consists of three single-sided vinyl records featuring locked grooves (containing fragments from the Napalm Death ‘Scum’ album) which can be manipulated and combined by the viewer with the sound diffused around the exhibition space.

Exhibited in the group exhibition You Should Be Living at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.