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Lockdown Studio Visits #3

October 15 2021, by Ziggy Lever

Tautai arts intern Sophia Amore Coghini is back at it again, with the third in a series of artist interviews. We continue with Tāmaki Makaurau artists whose planned exhibitons at Enjoy have been disrupted or rescheduled due to Covid restrictions.

Ziggy Lever has had his 2021 exhibition rescheduled to later this year (fingers crossed and COVID-19 alert levels permitting). His art reconsiders archives as provisional arrangements of images and matter, opening up the possibility to renegotiate sites of knowing and not knowing.

Here's what Ziggy's been up to.

Courtsey of Ziggy Lever

S.C. What is it about the tools or the mediums you are using currently that make them good for your art?

Z.L. Currently, I am putting together a few works for looping slide projectors. The carousel-based projectors like the Kodak Ektapro 5000 move the slides in orbit around the point of projection, and I am interested in what happens when the act of taking the photos somewhat mirrors that action.

The slide projector is an anachronistic piece of equipment, referring to a different time of image presentations. The noise of the mechanism, associations to family travel slide-shows, lectures, and museum displays interest me, as does the process of light passing through the surface of the image.

S.C. What are you watching/reading/listening to?

Z.L. I've been reading a couple of Brian Dillon's books recently on a recommendation from Vanessa Mei. I just finished Essayism, which is ostensibly about the form and ideology of the essay but is really a series of text fragments that weave many disparate things together. Ideas about the inherent multiplicity of the list, reflections on the lives and struggles of writers, Dillon's personal experiences of depression, and the "texture" to be found in a text all show how language and literature can matter in a life.

The other day my friend sent me a link to a directory of ambient music in Aotearoa (Ambient NZ), and through this I've re-discovered Dunedin based Rotor Plus, which I first heard in 2010 when I was starting Uni. I've been enjoying their latest release Fugue States, which is on Bandcamp.

Courtesy of Ziggy Lever

S.C. What's one thing in your room that you find yourself looking at?

Z.H. There is a rotating cast of objects that spend time on my desk, amongst the haphazard piles of paper and AV equipment, hard drives, notebooks, and stationery.

I like to have things close at hand to fiddle with when I am working, especially when writing or reading or editing at the computer. Currently, I can see an old yellow wooden folding ruler (inches) with the text: LONDON MADE IN FRANCE in a small font between the numbers 1 and 3.

Often there are rocks, electrical components, bottles of ink, USBs, flattened coins, matches, batteries, and screwdrivers around. A small metal slinky is a particular favourite.

S.C. What are you cooking?

Z.H. Recently I've been craving the spring-onion noodle soup at Shaolin Kung Fu Noodle on Dominion Road. I've been trying to make a similar style of noodle soup at home based on a ginger and spring onion broth, experimenting with different noodles and vegetables. Next, I'd like to try making the noodles myself.