PANIC BUTTON

Panic Button (2023) | Installation, Performance

Panic Button was a performance installation reimagining my experiences with stage fright and anxiety, utilising multimedia to build a world representing the inner workings of my mind. The installation consisted of a thirty minute looped soundscape, embedded with poems, large scale projected illustrations and a series of immersive multi screen films, which were projection mapped on multiple walls in the space; wooden and metal sculptures - which I additionally used as performance objects, and a repurposed telephone, with an inbuilt microphone connected to a VT3 Mixer. The audience were free to enter and exit the space as they pleased.

The installation was open for eight hours and I performed within the space four times, activating the space and interacting with the world I had created.

Stills: Courtesy of Jack Tisdall and Dr Richard Allen

Below is one of the short films I created, What is Left, which demonstrates the respite of the city, through scenic commutes on the DLR, in juxtaposition with the daunting prospect of things spiralling out of control in my mind.

Angle Grinder is another original piece of moving image and soundscape, which was projected in my exhibition space. I used sounds of an angle grinder when welding a metal tree, and manipulated them in Garage Band, alongside synthesisers and an electric guitar. The film comments on the build up and climax of stage fright and anxiety through abstract aural and visual means.