Et Al. The Second of the Ordinary Practices

Et Al. The Second of the Ordinary Practices

10 June–21 July 200610 Jun–21 Jul 2006

New Zealand collective Et Al. are known for their moody installations linking art, technology, political ideologies, scientific theories, fringe religious practices, and Cold-War-style behaviour modification. the second of the ordinary practices develops out of their 2005 Venice Biennale project, the fundamental practice. Recorded and computer-generated voices read extremist texts from within five crudely constructed APUs (autonomous purification units). Resembling sentry boxes and orgone accumulators, the APUs move back and forth on wires behind cyclone-fencing enclosures. We don’t know if they are the prisoners or the warders. Their purpose—malicious or benevolent—remains unfathomable. An adjacent computer control room includes a video projection of an aerial view of Baxter Internment Camp, a live feed from Google Earth. Superimposed on this scene like giant obelisks are five stylised APUs.