Martin Coomer
Time Out, July 14, 2004
LENGTH: 313 words


Simon Faithfull, Pump House
'Orbital No 1' consists of three videos projected in concentric circles. In the outer image we're driving around the M25; moving inwards, the screen shows a similar shot of the North and South Circulars. At the centre is a driver's-eye view of the Circle Line. Three infinite, circular journeys (a vision of Hell? ) displayed with an economy that suggests the city is in perfect working order it almost causes you to forget the horrors of motorway traffic and the daily commute. You get the impression that Simon Faithfull could make a trip to the corner shop seem poetic; things become slower and more blighted, though, in the computer work 'Lee Navigation'. Drag the mouse to the right and an on-screen line-drawing takes you from the mouth of the River Lee, where it meets the Thames, to its source beneath a Luton tower block.The artist walked the route, noting on his Palm Pilot interesting landmarks mostly the pylons and shop signs which litter the screen.

Set by the lake in Battersea Park, the Pump House might seems an odd choice of venue for this unremittingly urban work, but all makes sense upstairs. Arranged over four floors, this must be one of the few galleries in London where '30km' can be shown as intended; you look down from a balcony to a circular screen on the floor below. Looming into view is the artist's face, gazing up at you while he fiddles with a camera. Then, miraculously, we're off.

Attached to a weather balloon, the camera rises, then drifts and spins with the currents until, at 30km, the atmospheric pressure causes the balloon to explode. Many artists would relish the prospect of the crash back to earth, but Faithfull leaves us on the edge of space, defying gravity while the signal fades. Not quite an out-of-body experience but an escape, nonetheless. How often can you say that these days?