Ian Bourn

From the idea that glass, even when cooled, is a liquid that changes in appearance over time, an offscreen narrator launches a recollection of the bygone days of manual glassmaking and an observation of the impact of the mass-produced glass on the changing appearance of England over time.

The heaven and hell of suburban domesticity is put in the spotlight in this tape involving a video game, a cup of tea and a Sunday afternoon. He is in the still undecorated back room. She is in the garden, soaking up the sun. A cup of tea is called for. Ian Bourn and the late Helen Chadwick play the two lead roles.

A particularly beautiful lily seems to grow before our eyes, gradually changing shape; what sounds like breathing on the sound track gives it an almost human presence. Suddenly the sound and movement stop as a glass plate, invisible until now, cracks – and it seems we’ve been watching, in Smith’s words, ‘the forced development of a hothouse flower’.

A darkly humourous portrait of a sales representative, just returned from a disastrous business trip in the far East. Walking the streets at night his alienated view of the world is presented as a disembodied voice with a shadow gliding over the pavements. The subjective point of view 'objectifies' his ideas and emotions via the urban enviroment, using them as catalysts for quixotic trains of thought and metaphor.

The heaven and hell of suburban domesticity is put in the spotlight in this tape involving a video game, a cup of tea and a Sunday afternoon. He is in the still undecorated back room. She is in the garden, soaking up the sun. A cup of tea is called for. Ian Bourn and the late Helen Chadwick play the two lead roles.

Art film part of the REWIND + PLAY, An Anthology of Early British Video Art box-set.