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“Where are you riding too, master?" "I don't know," I said, "only away from here, away from here. Always away from here, only by doing so can I reach my destination." "And so you know your destination?" he asked. "Yes," I answered, "didn't I say so? Away-From-Here, that is my destination." "You have no provisions with you" he said. "I don't need any" I said. "The journey is so long that I will die of hunger if I do not get something along the way. It is, fortunately, a truly immense journey."

 

 

Franz Kafka- My Destination

 

 

Kafka condenses the mechanics of infinite motion that I find myself repeatedly drawn too. It is the mechanism of striving forwards towards an infinitely receding end point, and how in doing so it becomes a form of destination in of itself. I am curious if language also follows the same pattern of this Kafka tale. You set off, hopefully, with words spilling out of your mouth, approaching the idea that is held in your head. Only to find that the idea always holds that little bit more than what your words can convey.  And, how, ‘it is, fortunately, a truly immense journey’, that one could never quite complete communication. For, if you could, what would there to be said when it is all done?

 

I am also aware that inherent to the driving force of capitalism is the reduction of these ‘journeys’, trying to get products or entertainment to the consumer faster and faster. On one hand this is great for me, as it gives me an enjoyable job, cycling around delivering packages. But I am also terrified by this quickening, I think as the motion of the machine moves around us faster and faster, completing every required action, we become stiller and stiller, letting it move for us.

 

It is with these things in mind that I have been making the series Light switch, Plane and Boat. Each one focussing on deferring the arrival: on extending the time and space of the in-between. Light switch is a conflict between the lighting system and a machine that wants the lights to remain on, the two parts react against each other, never coming to an agreement, until one fails. Plane is the documentation of the struggle of trying to fly, without mechanical assistance or aeronautical knowledge. Finally, Boat is the documentation of a mobile, amphibious accommodation unit, on its journey from Sunderland to Manchester. All pieces remain unfinished.