JASON MOYES: MINUS NINE

minus nine / screen one / running time 25m

Alarm / 1m 40s / 2014
Despite the comforting sound of a ticking clock, tension and frustration mounts as an anonymous and unseen character sinks further into a claustrophobic and twisted loop of shifting and impossible times and dates. A deafening silence builds as pen never quite hits paper, contact with the outside world is lost and one idea after another dissolves, almost stolen by time itself.

БisforBerwick/ 2m44s/2014
Boundaries are blurred as a Baltic city and Berwick meet.
It is said that Berwick-upon-Tweed and Russia were still at war until very recently. This film explores the idea of St. Petersburg intertwining with Berwick and shows an abstract view of the town’s history and identity through its streets, spaces and landmarks, evoking a dream- like and blurred memory of both places.

Two Angels / 4m 24s / 2015
Two angels find joy as they explore a ruined and desolate landscape. But their shared sense of vitality, youth, passion and innocence is tarnished by a lasting memory of destruction that can’t be outrun or wiped from our collective consciousness. The angels pause to remember beauty, but their wings are already as black as the ground they walk on.

Wind Blows at 7 Frames Per Second / 1m 55s / 2015
A strong wind can cleanse the palate against misinterpretation and ambitious translation. Cross winds distort messages between tympanic membrane and comprehension, in this work the wind blows at seven frames per second.

Sea Sisters / 2m 20s / 2015
Two sisters recall memories of a distant ancestor and through her explore their attraction to the power and destructive nature of the sea. Together they contemplate a life that may have been had they answered their family calling and followed in their ancestor’s footsteps.

Red Cap / 5m 33s
This work is inspired by the Red Cap myth from Borders folklore and explores the ideas of purpose and regret experienced by those who have to take the lives of others in order to survive.

Red Lights and a Solstice Moon / 2m 00s / 2016
When the summer solstice coincides with a rare ‘strawberry’ moon, natural and artificial light becomes entwined against the sound of a hypnotic and ambiguous coded radio transmission.

All Things Edith / 3m 47s / 2017
On the 6th March 2017 as part of the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival I took part in an 8-mile walk to the historic Hermitage Castle, led by the filmmaker Andrew Kötting with Claudia Barton. The event offered “A performative perambulation which reunites the ghosts of King Harold and his hand fast wife Edith Swan Neck. They will lead a raggle-taggle procession of artists and miscreants towards Hermitage castle and the spectral vision that is Mary Queen of Scots. A trajectory in celebration of myth-making, ghosts and unreliable memory. May the magnetic force-fields be upon them.” This is just some of the footage I shot on the day, in an effort to capture some of the magic from the event.

minus nine / screen two

Celluloid V3 / 4m 10s / 2016/17.
“America is not so much a nightmare as a non-dream. The American non-dream is precisely a move to wipe the dream out of existence. The dream is a spontaneous happening and therefore dangerous to a control system set up by the non-dreamers.”
William Burroughs.