In German the phrase “Von hinten durch die Brust ins Auge” is used to describe something that is painfully slow, difficult; to explain something “from the back, through the chest and into the eye”. In this exhibition the title was used as a metaphor for a literal, sensory experience; a penetrating insight that hits you slowly but then suddenly, right in the eye. The material in the films, sculptures and images relate to the physical body in that they depict or are taken from surroundings where the body rests, is examined or helped in some way - clinical, protected but public places. The objects in the exhibition are aids; literally and metaphorically. Playing with the various materials that analogue and digital images and their hardware produce, the works are made by taking screens apart, or using heavy cables to show the weight and mass of a digital image. Videos and photographs are given physical, analogue filters, like sculptural layers or attachments in the form of latex or silicone sheets– or a silk scarf folded inside a video screen.

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The imagery is taken from various sources including the artist’s own footage. From Google searches of interrogation rooms, waiting rooms and hospital recovery rooms; a hacked ship simulator computer game; or stills from Frederick Wisemans harrowing 1974 film Primate, where one primate (humans) is researching the sexual behavior of another. Wiseman’s camera observes with achingly tender care, but without taking position. As such, the works in the exhibition show both the human and mechanical aspects of image making, and the conflict of trying to reconcile the two.

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