Scrutiny

As if working in opposition to the varying evocative mysteries of Amber City and non-places, Ian Cross' video, Scrutiny, is an iconic example of the post modernist video tradition of an assemblage of home movie family footage, with flickering scratchy animations of sex, homes, foetuses, men, women, signs, death and 50s text books. Combining computer generated animation and 35mm footage of postcard seaside and countryside terrain in a style akin to the chapter tableaus of Lars Von Trier's film, Breaking the Waves, Cross' video whips up a vortex of contemporary signs suggesting an underbelly of discontent in both the quiet verisimilitude of landscape and the everyday anarchy of the modern British city.