A note by choreographer and Helpmann Award winner: Ross McCormack

Nowhere Fast is my response to the works of American photographer Gregory Crewdson. By constructing elaborate artificial environments and using extensive pinpoint lighting, with a wash of natural twilight, he creates still images of disturbing suburban scenes.

A life that looks momentarily stuck in a glitch becomes an open window for the onlooker to witness humanity as if in a state of emergency and watch themselves and others going Nowhere Fast.

The work coincides with my own experience of working at a food court inside a shopping mall. This indoor/outdoor environment seemingly drained of reality was accompanied by a soundtrack of fake waterfalls, chirping birds and gentle winds. Pan flute versions of popular songs during the lunch hour rush suddenly transformed this pristine space into an airy environment that in my imagination transported the customers to a scene similar to those depicted in the Twilight Zone.

Nowhere Fast aims to combine these environments and create an atmosphere where the characters attempt to define the spaces they inhabit and discover how they relate to one another. Glitches and breakdowns occur during the transition from natural to artificial, as we travel toward our destination fueled by the need to get nowhere faster.

Ross McCormack