Ikebana (2016)
Richard Bevan
16mm film projected and 16mm digital transfer on CRT monitor.
9:35 looped
Ikebana is a two screen installation by Richard Bevan that was commissioned and produced in 2016 by The Block. A looped 9 minute 16mm film projection shows an ikebana arrangement being constructed in a single unedited shot, while on a second screen a 30 second loop of the detached flower heads from the film float in a bowl of water. This second film is shown on a small CRT monitor and positioned in relation to the projection. The installation draws parallels between ideas of time, permanence, composition and cuts within the arts of ikebana and filmmaking, extending an idea from Akira Kurosawa’s, No Regrets for Our Youth, in which, Yukie (played by Setsuko Hara) constructs and then destroys an arrangement of flowers. The result of this destruction is briefly dwelled upon, proposing that it is in fact a second ‘arrangement’, another way to describe her thoughts and feelings.
Ikebana, 2016, installation view at The Block, 16 December 2016 - 22 January 2017