Ghost Block

Filmed on the English south coast 'Ghost Block' depicts the uncanny and eerie atmosphere at the site of a WW2 coastal defence line. The concrete cubes were used as an anti-invasion blockade against potential landing forces. This protection line now slowly decaying and becoming enmeshed into the environment still acts as a defence to repel unwanted visitors. The area is a natural reserve to nesting birds that often lay eggs directly onto the beach surface. The blocks act as a final barrier to prevent invaders destroying or disturbing the nesting birds. The anthropomorphic nature of the blocks themselves makes them appear as guardians to this delicate habitat and form a colony in their own right. The blocks in the landscape seem to create an ambiguous form that unsettles the viewer, their function maybe a distant memory and they seem to have become ghostly reminders to a period of conflict and great uncertainty. The imagery captures the stillness of these guardians of the land however sonically the piece reminds us that the environment is physical, constantly active and that time and erosion are ever moving.The tension lies in the fact that the images present stillness and permanence but these constructions will inevitably collapse over time.