Nicking the Never

Nicking the Never is a multi-linear installation that incorporates screen-based animated narratives into a sculptural interface. Composed of allegories about a young girl stuck in a kinetic world of emotional pitfalls, this kaleidoscopic trip into the states of selfhood bases its structure in the Tibetan Buddhist Wheel of Existence, whose images luridly and vividly describe the human struggle with need, jealousy, complacence, aggression, desire, and ego. Borrowing this emotional taxonomy, Nicking the Never unfolds in six corresponding short chapters: Guzzle, Bash, Buoy, Smash, Nuzzle, and Dash.

The premiere of Nicking the Never took place in Dec 2004- Jan 2005 at FACT in Liverpool, UK. In this large-scale installation, seven DVD players projected their discrete realms onto seven 2-meter screens, each with a speaker overhead. Located sound helped to spatially orient the material in space. The viewer wandered through the labyrinth of screens.

Installation at FACT, Liverpool, UK, 2005

Nicking the Never was first shown as a work-in-progress at the Kitchen in New York, May 2004. Monitors were arranged in a circle of six realms, with a hub at the center. Continuous animated loops of the girl’s physical gestures embodied the contents of each realm. Viewers activated the sub-animations via sensors embedded in six discs on the floor that mirrored the circular structure of the screens. Stepping on a disc triggered a realm, and all realms could be activated at once, by multiple users, creating a sonorous cacophony of parts.