This body of work explores the
dead zones in the cell phone network. The aim is to provide a survey
of the 'remoter' regions of the English landscape at the end of the 3G
era - before successive waves of cell phone technology pave the way
towards full signal coverage. The project has grown out of research of
The Picturesque. The original Picturesque movement of the 18th century
has been discussed as a reaction to the industrial revolution and this
conception of picturesque as anti-industrial and resistant to change
can be traced through to present day photographic forms. In this work,
the aesthetic concerns of landscape are set against the interests of
technological advancement. At the time of the Picturesque movement,
the Wye Valley, for its dramatic scenery and ancient ruins, was a
significant destination. The Romantic poets and painters were drawn to
its atmosphere of remoteness and separation from industrial change.
With this in mind, I set out to try to locate a dead zone somewhere in
valley, perhaps with the idea that such a place would represent the
kind of 'nature' that the poets and painters were searching for. The
located dead zone takes on an almost mystical significance as the area
where technological communication breaks down and some kind of
alternative state seems to be represented.
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