Installing

Owen Bullock

Installing

 
 
Jón Páll Sigmarsson’s first installation is a mobile phone standing twelve feet high. You type the letter A by pulling down a lever which takes all your strength. Activate letter B by lifting a 30 litre bucket of water from a shelf at chest height. Clock letter C by sawing through a 40 cm log with a bow saw. A message can take an hour. The exhibit relays what you’ve written to a real cellphone which sends the message, though there might be network problems. Sigmarsson’s work will be tremendously popular, the gallery owners tell me.

Note: “Installing” was previously published in the Recent Work Press (Canberra) anthology: Tract (2017, eds. Paul Munden and Monica Carroll) and is republished here with permission.

Owen Bullock has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Canberra, where he teaches. He has published three collections  of poetry, four books of haiku, and a novella, the most recent being Work & Play (Recent Work Press, 2017). He has edited a number of journals and anthologies, including Poetry NZ. He is originally from Cornwall and lived for 25 years in Aotearoa/New Zealand before migrating to Australia.