Paperjam

Tunnel Vision

Art // Jim // 19th July 2007

I’ve always liked alleyways and tunnels and especially photos of alleyways and tunnels. Not really sure why, I thought it was maybe to do with the mysteries of the subterranean or an affectation for perspective and vanishing points. I once wrote a horrible, embarrassing screenplay when I was a student – the first five minutes was composed of continuous shots moving down tunnels. I though it would be great, I let someone read it. She said it was clearly a load of vaginal imagery and that I should grow up, I coughed in my beer and blushed.

Anyway, possible twisted sexual fixation aside, I was very intrigued by the Tunnel Vision event as part of Birmingham’s Fierce arts festival, an installation in one of the deserted tunnels that run under the city. In this instance the old connection between the Mailbox and New Street Station, where in days gone past people used to scurry about with the post, going blind and getting TB.

The entry is from the upper floor at the back of The Mailbox, Jane has come with me and already seems fairly sure that I have got the wrong day, the wrong place and quite possibly the wrong town. Fortunately there is a woman sitting at a table under a pink Fierce festival banner with a clipboard, she is eating salami out of a packet and confirms that for once I am in roughly the right place at roughly the right time.

After a quick sit in the sun, wishing that those shoes with the wheels in the heels had been invented when I was little, it is time to descend underneath Birmingham. A security geezer leads us to a lift and on the way down warns us that there are flashing lights in case any of us are “elliptical”, I glance at my slightly rotund form and wonder if he means me.

The other people in our party might be a bit annoying so we hang back at the start. The first part of the exhibit is some bits of sculpture in the part of the Mailbox basement that adjoins the old tunnels. Everyone else is hanging about so we take the opportunity to dive down the tunnel so as to experience the whole thing without some annoying kid yelling about something or other.

As we walk into the tunnel I get a slight snap of claustrophobia as things get dark fairly quickly and (what hopefully are) unseen speakers play clanking sounds, sinister bird song and fizzy electrical/welding type noises. The tunnels are really breezy though, not stuffy and nostril blackening like the underground but properly ventilated which is quite at odds with the increasing darkness and dankness as we walk further down the tunnel.

Deeper down and round a corner and we are in absolute darkness, in the distance a bright light flashes intermittently, this coupled with a change in the soundtrack gives the impression that we are walking towards an oncoming train.

It is a bit spooky but rather than scary it is all rather dream like and really mysterious. The brief flashes of light don’t illuminate the tunnel at all and stop the eyes from adjusting to the surroundings. We amble towards the light, speculating as to what it is and what might be beyond it. I hatch a plan that we should run straight into it and see what happens on the other side, but fairly quickly bottle it.

As we get nearer the flashing almost completely fills the vision and still we don’t know what to expect when we pass into the light, still I’m really intrigued and then really surprised when we walk straight into a projection screen. I swear, Jane laughs -the running plan would have been a bit of a disaster: Man destroys art exhibit, gets lost in a dark tunnel and goes feral.

Hanging around at the end of the tunnel, the rest of the party catch up, fail to be tricked by the screen and amble off. I wonder why they didn’t seem to be as drawn in by the whole thing as I was – maybe they are too cynical to be drawn into the notion of something so dream-like and mystical, or maybe they heard me shouting “FUCK! It’s a fucking screen!” in the distance and some bird pissing herself.

Gradually walking back we take turns seeing what it looks like when one person is in front of the other; you see a shadow that is burnt into your vision by the brief, intense flash which actually moves. But you can still scurry up to someone and make her jump a bit when the light flashes next time – if you are a bit childish.

Back to the start of the tunnel we have a look at the various sculptures, there is some dark liquid reflecting ripples onto the wall, a table and chairs set in concrete and a trolley cage casting a grid like shadow. The final/first sculpture is fucking brilliant – a pile of junk that has been arranged so that the shadow cast by a lamp produces the image of an angel over a house.

Tunnel Angel: Brilliant, junk

It’s hard to believe that the intricate features of the shadow are being created by a manky bit of cardboard and some bubble wrap, Jane says “I can hardly believe that the intricate features of the shadow are being created by a manky bit of cardboard and some bubble wrap”. But after a bit of perusal she is both convinced and impressed.

We are well chuffed about the whole thing and have a few drinks while chatting up a pair of elderly sisters and then go in the pub which seems to have the best random jukebox in the world. Jane has had enough fun for one day and wants to go home, This means that that after a lengthy sabbatical I get the chance to resume my drinking with miserable gits career in Leamington, ahhhh, it’s good to be back.