He Dreamed Overtime 2012 Australia

He Dreamed Overtime

Lost love, obsession, and a man driven to create peculiar sculptures
2012
Sydney, Australia

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
18th Biennale of Sydney Sydney, Australia,

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.