Proudly Brought to You in Standard Definition is an installation by Mike Heynes that reuses mass produced plastic toys and kitset models to playfully critique Wellywood and its spectacular technologies.
Mike Heynes lives in Wellington New Zealand, home of Director Sir Peter Jackson’s Academy Award winning movie studios Wingnut Films, Weta Digital, and Park Road Post, colloquially known as ‘Wellywood’ in honour of their connections to Hollywood.
Working “in the shadow of Wellywood”, Heynes’ practice offers a Situationist critique of this surrounding industry. Production strategies in Heynes' practice include appropriating movie-themed action figures to create rudimentary animations, juxtaposed with psychedelic imagery reminiscent of the 1960s. Writer Martin Patrick describes Heynes’ practice as examining “…the undercurrents of our never-ending sea of popular culture (which) wash ashore deceptively magical detritus, such that even as cycles of cultural production become less representative of the current mainstream it never completely disappears.”
Proudly Brought to You in Standard Definition includes a series of moving image works programmed into a cinema reel that unfolds like a 20th century cinema experience; an advertisement, trailers, a feature and an intermission. Alongside, Heynes has created a model of a Hollywood ‘backlot’, a street scene typically reused for multiple Hollywood productions, it’s sense of place a ubiquitous backdrop for multiple character interactions and dramas.
For Heynes, continuing to use video equipment rescued from disposal and refusing to upgrade is also a mode of environmental activism. The show’s title Proudly Brought to You in Standard Definition, encourages his peers and viewers to question their place as critics or consumers of new video technologies.
Proudly Brought to You in Standard Definition also celebrates the opening of CIRCUIT’s new premises at Level 2, 27 Dixon St, Wellington. The new CIRCUIT space is designed to support CIRCUIT’s day to day work alongside seasonal programmes of screenings, installations, residencies and artist meetings. Director Mark Williams says “It is honour to open our new premises with a show by Mike Heynes, whose work is so relevant to Wellington’s screen industry, yet critiques it with such insight and humour”.
