The piece of work that was created for the Suttie Art Space show seeks to imagine a place that exists in the dreamworld of Ellis Sinisto. The “Adhocist” structure provides a contemplative holistic space within the confines of two institutions, one the white cube gallery space and the other being Aberdeen royal infirmary, the largest hospital complex in Europe. The space seeks to examine the beauty that can be found in decay and the understanding born from ideas surrounding decay and the cycle of life. The space offers a respite from the emotional confines of the victorian hospital as well as relief from the corporate monotony of it directional signage and architecture.
The combined theories of adhocism and biophilia informed the building of the structure, the contents of which examine our relationships with the natural world. The structure also encourages us to explore an untended wildernesses found in the imagination and fantastical world of little known Finish outsider artist Ellis Sinisto. Ellis and his environmental philosophy were way ahead of their times and he can be seen as one of the proto-environmental artists of the twentieth century.The themes in the structure are extended into the beehive installation piece, a series of box shrines and sound pieces well as a replica model of one of Ellis’s structures the mountain house designed for reading esoteric texts.
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| relax and dance - title from Ellis Sinisto's sweatshirt |
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| cabin for Ellis - found materials |
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| cabin for Ellis - found materials |
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| beehive shrine - found beehive and belief system |
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| cabin deconstructed view |
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| cabin deconstructed view |
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| laser engraved flourescent perspex |
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| box shrines - ellis's actual beehive components and leave prints |
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| ellis's structures - model of mountain house his esoteric reading structure |
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| ellis's philosophy runs central to this shrine's texts |
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| documentation of my residency in villa juice |
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| ellis can be heard singing - adding life to this structure |
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| mountain housed beehives |
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| mountain house |
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| guest accommodation |
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| the hermits house - ellis's residence |
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| side view of ellis's home |
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| ellis laboratory door opens onto the pond on which his ashes are scattered |
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| the dancing circle where i danced twice at the start and end of my visit |
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| the other |
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| happy the man |
