Blue Oyster Project Art Space summer artist-in-residence Scott Flanagan will be spending the next month - or 867 hours, to be precise - indulging in some unusual underground art practices.
"I haven't seen any of the sun yet," he admitted yesterday.
"I'll be spending 15 to 18 hours a day here until my exhibition opens on January 31."
The installation, "867 Hours Underground", was inspired by the idea of new forms emerging from seemingly disparate media.
"VHS tape is analogue technology and, by the process of weaving, it pixelates and creates a reflective, quasi-virtual environment," he said.
"This is easily my most ambitious one yet."
Flanagan estimated he would use 100 VHS video tapes in the installation, which he started on Friday.
"It's very labour intensive. It will probably take at least 50 hours just to do the weaving."
The work features three walls covered in a woven, reflective VHS tape matting and two black pools of writhing tape on the floor.
One will include a life-sized female figurine and the other is a homage to French surrealist Marcel Du Champ, entitled Marcel Du Champ via Roberto Bolero and the Trebuchet.
Flanagan left his native Christchurch in April to relocate to Deborah Bay, Dunedin.
"I got shaken out of town by the earthquakes. I lost my studio in Lichfield St and my home in Charleston, so there was no reason to stay."
His last Dunedin show was in 2003.
Flanagan will give a public talk about the installation at the Blue Oyster Project Art Space on January 28.
