Information
Clive Gillman >
»Advent«, 1995 - 1998
Co-Workers & Funding:
Film & Video Umbrella, EliipsisAdvent', was available as a CD-ROM published by Ellipsis. The CD-ROM package contained, along with the CD, a book containing essays by Sean Cubitt, Jim McLellan and Steven Bode. The project has been supported by North West Arts Board, the Arts Council of England and Film & Video Umbrella and is the third in a series of artists' CD-ROM works to be published by Ellipsis.
ADVENT is now out of print, but a very limited number of the original work is available to collectors by contacting Clive Gillman directly.
ADVENT ISBN 1 899858 26 1
Technology
Software
Computer Game
Descriptions & Essays
Advent is an interactive journey into the 25 days preceding the birth of something messianic. The journey is set in and around the shoreline of a mythic river and takes the form of a fictional personal diary.
At the heart of the piece is an advent calender. This calender being similar to the type that can be bought at Xmas, 25 different small windows concealing images relating to the story of the nativity.
On this Advent calender are a series of dates which conceal explorable spaces. When one of these dates is selected by the user the screen dissolves to reveal a range of images, sounds and objects. The entire sequence of days being linked together by a series of texts taken from a diary which forms the story. This advent story is very different from the Christian story, involving the descent of an anonymous individual into self-deification. Each day revealing new signs that lead them (and the viewer) to become more enmeshed in a growing megalomania.
Occasional clues to this story will appear as hidden on-screen buttons that allow the user to locate and explore new dimensions of a particular image or object. Although the themes of the piece are complex and non-visual, they will be illustrated by a range of still and moving images from along the waterfront and its hinterland, depicting the strangeness inherent in a close examination of urban artifacts. Showing a sequence of details of the architecture, machinery and monuments of late 20th century England, at the end of the industrial revolution.
Literature
Gillman, Clive. Advent (Electric Art). London: Ellipsis, 1999.
Exhibitions & Events