Mrs. Hodges' Frequent Use of Air Freshener

'Mrs. Hodges’ Frequent Use of Air Freshener', is a video work running for 17 minutes screened first in the exhibition 'Merz' at The Kunstverein, Bregenz, Austria. The exhibition re-presents the ideas and concerns developed by Kurt Schwitters in the mid 20th century in light of contemporary conditions and politics. The video work I produced for this project, employs particular forms of editing that reflect the radical use of collage in Schwitters work. It brings together a wide range of source material including found footage, original real time sequences and material from popular media. The montage ‘welds’ these disparate elements into a coherent whole. In making the work I researched Schwitters’ collages and related these to early theories of cinema montage (like Vertov’s Kino Eye). The video employs as its location the high rise, high density living apartments developed in the 50’s and 60’s in London, and reflects upon the dysfunctional, social and personal dislocation and the role of the popular media.