Mark Dean’s audio-visual installations can create immersive physical experiences. ‘Christian Disco (Terminator)’, is a looped, psychedelic reworking of a clip from James Cameron’s original 1984 ‘Terminator’ movie, synced back to Brad Fiedel’s original, brooding electronic score. Layered into this is an audio recording of the end of two bible readings on Holocaust Memorial Day, which alternate the words ‘Here ends the first lesson’ and ‘Here ends the second lesson’. The symbolism may not be subtle but shown in Beaconsfield’s dark, bare brick arch space, Dean’s apocalyptic mix of familiar pop culture and religious reference can really disturb.
Dean has been isolating and looping moments of appropriated film footage and pop music since the early 1990s and, in addition to the four new pieces here, this exhibition also provides a fairly comprehensive retrospective of his work, with more than 30 of his single-screen videos available to select and view. While there’s an obvious relationship between Dean’s work and that of Turner Prize winner Douglas Gordon – both in a shared visual aesthetic and a concern with the duality of good and evil – there’s something more personal, poetic and even painful in Dean’s explorations. Dean’s interest in the language of religion is also a personal one. He was recently ordained as a minister of the Church of England.
The montaging and layering of film and music may now be more associated with YouTube than video art, but access to a technique isn’t the same as being able to produce anything creative or emotive with it. Dean’s work shows that he can.