Nicholas Mortimer

My practise brings together cultural studies of media and technology, historical research and theory to explore relations between perceptions of reality, systems of control, and the blurred boundaries of fact and fiction.

I am particularly interested in how narratives can be formed to highlight the way in which  the media, and technological advancements can shape ideology and inform the design of archetypal human endeavours.

Currently, my work combines detailed scenography, multilayered narratives, and speculative fiction to create character studies of individuals in closed systems of their own design, performing cyclical tasks which act as absurdist reflections on current or future issues.

I create sets and models to describe layered worlds with props and scripts which are designed to provide entry points into scenarios which examine speculative obsessions. A decision to leave interpretation open, but to offer clues and references to past, present and future systems is at the core of my work.

A fascination with a sense of absurdity which can arise from the perpetual and accelerated need to measure, control and represent the world, my motivation is to portray the consequences of mechanisms or technologies involved in designing subjectivity, rationality and persuasion - which reflect how the complexity of today's reality shapes our lives.