The Life and Times of G is an immersive four-screen video installation that presents a collection of vignettes from the life of a character whose journey is punctuated by a series of epic and mundane undertakings. The protagonist G is embodied by two dancers, variously portrayed by Slava Doval, Hiromoto Ida, and Acacia Schachte, who themselves simultaneously represent the right and left hemispheres of the brain and what philosopher Ursula Franklin refers to as holistic and prescriptive technologies. In her work The Real World of Technology, Franklin describes holistic technologies as processes that can be controlled by the individual, such as in craft-based practices where one person is able shift direction in response to a multitude of possible changes in material and context. The hallmarks of prescriptive technologies are conformity and orthodoxy, such as in digital platforms and industrial processes, and tend to control behaviour and response by virtue of their inflexibility. Punctuated by panoramic natural and industrial landscapes, vignettes of the character shift back and forth between a series of holistic and prescriptive technologies which chronicle the trials and tribulations of the protagonist through the course of a lifetime. The dancer’s attire, made from the detritus of consumption, grows in volume and weight as they move through their journey.

The Life and Times of G builds on a previous project Fine Line: Check Check, which explored the certainty and doubt associated with obsessive-compulsive behaviour. Similarly, this new work uses four screens to cast doubt and asks the viewer to question the conscious or unconscious nature of their movement as they engage with the work. The score by Don Macdonald, anchored by songs from Bob Wiseman and PIQSIQ, weaves through the piece and space of the installation. As Wiseman’s ‘Who Am I’ poses a quintessential life question, PIQSIQ’s ‘Corpus Callo (song)’, commissioned for the work, employs Katajjaq, Inuit style throat singing, to re-enforce the dual nature of the character’s inner life. In Katajjaq, the two singers begin with a simple back and forth volley that intensifies in both speed and complexity until the individual voices meld into one, linking the left and right. The images and sound shift from screen to screen, subtly choreographing the viewer’s focus and movement within the space of the installation. The interplay of image and sound in The Life and Times of G subtly guides the viewer’s focus, exploiting our contemporary dependence on screens and drawing them deeper into the intricate exploration of prescriptive and holistic technologies.