Adam Chodzko,
Thru hole I blind/O/Thru hole oui see, 2020.
Video 17 mins.

Adam Chodzko’s video work Thru hole I blind/O/Thru hole oui see explores the ways that forests are mapped, understood and perceived. The work draws on rich and diverse knowledge of the New Forest generously made available by a wide array of local specialists and organisations including Forestry England, National Parks Authority and The Verderers of the New Forest. The video is structured like a dream traversing this forest of information.

- “The forest is organised and mapped in order to identify zones corresponding to particular emotional and psychological states. In order to heal, humans spending time in these sites (either remotely or IRL), can experience and explore these heightened feelings in direct association with the natural environment.

To prepare us for this radical change of use Thru hole I blind/O/Thru hole oui see applies various techniques for guiding perceptions of a forest landscape. Systems of vision are channelled from local folklore, magic and rules of the picturesque to the latest Lidar technology, from empathic and embodied attention to tranquility mapping, the averting of a witches’ gaze, the visual noise of acid green rainwear and the power of shame, all in order to network and disperse the observer’s body and mind across every part of the forest. Thru hole I blind/O/Thru hole oui see is a visual exercise for perceiving both the wood for the trees and the trees for the wood. What beauty.” - Adam Chodzko

Objects to accompany a viewing of the work:
When you view this work, please try to bring the following objects. If you can’t locate the ideal objects, we’ve also listed a domestic equivalent.

  • Stone or pebble. Ideally a flint. (If not, a metal dessert spoon)

  • A fir cone. (If not, an onion or potato)

  • Some damp moss. ( If not, a slightly dampened piece of bread)

  • Three leaves from 3 different trees. (If not, three socks from three separate pairs)

  • An acorn. (If not, a £1 coin)

  • A hawthorn twig or similar, but ideally including a thorn. (If not, a pencil)

  • A piece of bark. (If not, a CD, DVD or pack of Post-It Notes)

READ: A wild seen: some modalities of perception in Adam Chodzko’s recent outings by writer Ellen Mara De Wachter here

Adam Chodzko lives in Whitstable, UK. He is an artist working across media, exploring our conscious and unconscious behaviour, social relations and collective imaginations through artworks that are propositions for alternative forms of ‘social media.’ Since 1991 Chodzko has exhibited extensively in international solo and group exhibitions including: Tate Britain; Tate, St Ives; Raven Row, London; Museo d’Arte Moderna, Bologna (MAMBo); The Benaki Museum, Athens; Athens Biennale, Istanbul Biennale, Venice Biennale; Royal Academy, London; Deste Foundation, Athens; PS1, NY; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Kunstmuseum Luzern etc. Recent projects include commissions by Creative Time, New York, The Contemporary Art Society, Wellcome Trust, Frieze Art Fair, and Hayward Gallery. Chodzko has been included in many British Council curated international exhibitions of British Art. In 2002 he received awards from the Hamlyn Foundation and the Foundation for Contemporary Art, New York, and in 2007 was awarded an AHRC Research Fellowship in the Film Department at the University of Kent, Canterbury. In 2015 Chodzko was shortlisted for the Jarman Awards. In 2016 he received a DACS Art360 Award. Chodzko’s work is in the collections of the Tate, The British Council, The British Film Institute, The Arts Council, APT, Auckland City Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Society Collection, The Creative Foundation, Frac Languedoc-Rousillon, GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Turin, Grizedale Arts, MAMBo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Plains Arts Museum, North Dakota, USA, Saatchi Collection, South London Gallery, Towner Gallery Eastbourne, Wellcome Collection and international private collections. He has lectured and, or, tutored at numerous Higher and Further Education institutions internationally.


Thru hole I blind/O/Thru hole oui see credits:
Voice: Gretchen Egolf
Thanks to Lawrence Shaw, Sarah Kelly, and Hilde van der Heul at the New Forest National Park Authority.
Music: Mutsumi – Look Down at Your Feet Below, and Afro Finger. Terre Thaemlitz remix of The Golden Palominos - Gun / Little Suicides
Commissioned by More Than Ponies with support by Arts Council England. Originally streamed daily 10 - 18 Nov 2020 accross Tele Vistas, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.