Short Circuit is a photo-media investigation into our electrical consumption and the ‘trash and treasure’ culture of Western commoditisation. The exhibition examines the form and function of the ‘electrical artifact’ using a combination of photographic and moving image work.

Working with discarded electrical waste found in suburban hard rubbish and local dumps, the exhibition extends the post industrial photographic typologies developed famously by Berndt and Hilla Becher, but in this case using electrical objects. These new typologies (arrangements of similar forms with overlapping characteristics in a grid) examine the forms of discarded appliances, arranging them in cabinets of electrical curiosities. The core typologies in the exhibition are supported by large images of single appliances presented as still lives of the objects ‘recycled’ as gilded Art Objects. This work presents the ‘trash to treasure’ ideology, as promoted in contemporary “re-use, re-cycle” approaches to more sustainable living. Moving-image time-lapse work play with the relationship between electrical dependency and the environmental impact of high consumption, with frozen appliances melting in contemporary landscapes.