View through to the other side of the World

‘The essence of the Arts Council of England International Research Fellowship Programme was to invite British artists to work with different cultural organisations around the world and that the subsequent research should in some way culturally connect Britain to the other institutions associated with the programme.

I was invited to go to the Institute of Modern Art based in Brisbane, Australia. I’d never been to Australia before and the only ‘link’ I had with the place down under was that as a young boy growing up in Guernsey, and when playing on one of the Islands’ many beaches, I was frequently told that if I were to keep on digging that I might one day reach Australia. That thought, that seed of an ideas was the starting point for one of the most ambitious and logistically complicated projects I have ever realised’.

Eric Snell
2003

Grange House

Guernsey College School of Art,
St Peter Port
Guernsey

View through to the other side of the World

Institute of Modern Art and

Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
Brisbane
Australia

View through to the other side of the World

Concept/Photoshop

Photomontage/Photoshop image of the hole
Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
2003

View through to the other side of the World

Concept Drawing

Photoshop image of the hole in ‘the gallery’
Guernsey College School of Art
2003

View through to the other side of the World

Working drawing (detail)

For the constructions of the hole at the
Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole Brisbane end

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole

Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
Brisbane, Australia
July, 2004

Photo: Ihor Holubizky

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole

Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
Brisbane, Australia
July, 2004

Photo: Ihor Holubizky

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole

Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
Brisbane, Australia
July, 2004

Photo: Ihor Holubizky

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole

Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
Brisbane, Australia
July, 2004

Photo: Ihor Holubizky

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole

‘the gallery’ Guernsey College of Art
St Peter Port
August, 2004

Photo: Joanna Littlejohns

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole

‘the gallery’ Guernsey College of Art
St Peter Port
August, 2004

Photo: Joanna Littlejohns

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole

‘the gallery’ Guernsey College of Art
St Peter Port
August, 2004

Photo: Joanna Littlejohns

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole

‘the gallery’ Guernsey College of Art
St Peter Port
August, 2004

Photo: Joanna Littlejohns

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole nearing completion

‘the gallery’ Guernsey College of Art
St Peter Port
August, 2004

View through to the other side of the World

Construction of hole nearing completion

‘the gallery’ Guernsey College of Art
St Peter Port
August, 2004

View through to the other side of the World

Connecting cameras to monitors via the internet

Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
Brisbane, Australia
August, 2004

View through to the other side of the World

The official ‘unveiling’ of the project

View from both ends of the virtual hole
Brisbane/Guernsey
3 September 2004

View through to the other side of the World

Ella Snell (in Guernsey)
Photographed in Brisbane
September 2004

View through to the other side of the World

Project open to the public - a young girl writing
messages to her family in Brisbane
September 2004

View through to the other side of the World

View through to the other side of the World
Arts Council of England Research Fellowship
2002-2004

Statement

The project’s aim is to conceptually drill a hole through the world. In essence ‘View through to the other side of the World is very simple yet it is one of the most ambitious and logistically complicated projects I have ever realised; involving two countries, two art centres, two simultaneous installations using cutting edge technology.

Constantly responding to different locations and situations, I have realised numerous projects over the years, in many different countries, working with a wide range of materials – but never I have worked on project of this scale.

View through to the other side of the World evolved out of an Arts Council of England International Research Fellowship that I was awarded in 2002. The Fellowship took me to Australia where I was based at the Institute of Modern Art, located at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Downtown Brisbane. In response to the location and the Fellowship, I decided to realise a project that in some way united Britain and Australia.

While wrestling with that the problem I remembered that when I was a young boy growing up in Guernsey, and when I was playing on one of the Island’s many beaches, I was frequently told that if I were to keep digging I might one day reach Australia. This thought, this seed of an idea, coupled with the fact that recently I have been working with CCTV and real time imagery, started me thinking about the possibility of realise this ‘childhood dream’ while simultaneously capturing the spirit of the Fellowship by digging a virtual hole – connecting Brisbane to St Peter Port.

Eric Snell