He Dreamed Overtime
Sydney, Australia (2012)
Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia. May 2012. Ted Wilson, a former ranger, disappears. When Stanley Dusk from IPCS (Independent Pest Control Sydney) investigates, he uncovers a story of lost love and obsession, of a man, consumed by dreams and driven by fantasy to create peculiar, non canonical sculptures and artifacts.
The work included 73 enigmatic beeswax sculptures that had been “discovered” in a nearby cave by pest expert Stanley Dusk. In his spare time, Stanley had been using Building #2 as a makeshift laboratory to discover more about their creator, Ted Wilson—a former park ranger who recently disappeared.
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He Dreamed Overtime : Shows
The intricate story of Wilson—a narrative of forbidden love, longing, and obsessive making—revealed itself through the objects and Stanley’s equally obsessive analysis. Stanley examined these coralline beeswax artefacts within a diorama-like sunroom, where he looked at them with an almost scientific rigour—labelling, categorizing, x-raying and even re-enacting their making to understand their physical and narrative meaning.
He also displayed the artefacts in makeshift vitrines and a “Cabinet of Curiosity.” X-rays contain clues about Ted’s forbidden love with the enigmatic Nelly, including a necklace found deep within one of the unearthed artefacts. Stanley went so far as blogging about his discovery on his professional web site for Stanley’s company: Independent Pest Control Sydney (ipc-sydney.com).
For the Biennale, the historic house “Building #2” on Cockatoo Island served as the distinctly domestic site of the the work. Visitors were taken on a haunting, almost archaeological tour through this abandoned house, delving into the protagonist's stories of Stanley Dusks, Ted Wilson and Nelly X.
Take a Tour: Photos of Building 2 by Beth Kapusta.
Watch a video of the installation at YouTube.
See also: 18th Biennale of Sydney.