This is one of a series of photographs that document Ben Morieson's Burnout performance, originally staged in Melbourne's Docklands precinct on 18 March 2001. For approximately 40 minutes the artist directed a team of eight drivers to spin their wheels back and forth across a 70m x 30m stretch of tarmac to produce a large drawing on the ground. The drawing process was watched by an audience seated around the performance arena, and it could also be viewed on the internet via a live broadcast that was edited together from five digital cameras. During the performance a photographer took aerial shots of the drawings from a cherry picker, and these images were printed and distributed to the audience as the event took place. At the conclusion of the performance the audience members were invited to have these photographs signed by the car drivers.
As well as incorporating photography into the live performance itself, Morieson has subsequently used the documentation of this event as the basis for exhibitions in Germany, Switzerland, Indonesia, China, New Zealand and various art galleries around Australia. ‘Burnout 2001 – Torana spiral’ is part of a larger body of work documenting Morieson's performances.
(2014)
Chromogenic prints are printed on paper that has at least three emulsion layers containing invisible dyes and silver salts. Each emulsion layer is sensitive to a different primary colour of light (red, green or blue). The development process converts the hidden dyes to visible colour depending on the amount of light it was exposed to. This type of paper is commonly used to print from colour negatives or digital files to produce a full-colour image. It can also be used to print black-and-white images, giving softer grain and less contrast than gelatin silver prints. Commonly known as c-type prints, chromogenic processing was developed in the 1940s and widely used for colour printing, including for domestic snapshots. While recent years have seen this process accompanied by ink-jet and digital printing technologies, chromogenic printing still remains in use to this day.
