Alexander in Mimesis
Audio / visual series in 3 parts - Writing, direction, illustration, animation, performance, music. The Factory on Willow Gallery (2022).
Artist, writing, direction - Alexander Augustus
Narration - Mike Bodie
Music - Cornelius Link
Sound Design - Alexander Augustus
Sound Design / Engineering Consultant - Youkyung Cho
Additional instruments - Lukas Henning (rhythm & lead guitar), Trevor Nierendorf (rhythm guitar)
Special thanks to The Factory on Willow; David Rogers and the scientists at Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute; John Clayton, Aurore Eaton and the Millyard Museum; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and to Isaac Liddle, wordsmith and writing mentor.
Alexander in Mimesis tells the story of myself making an artwork, describing the story of myself making an artwork. In many ways the US is a dreamlike reflection of the UK, and during my time there I came to see Manchester, New Hampshire, as a kind of Manchester 2; in response I wanted to create a kind of Alexander 2 to inhabit the foreign land. The resulting piece is a semi-autobiographical, science-fiction adventure which follows Alexander on his artistic journey; through the old factories and graveyards, sports bars and antique shops, museums and supermarkets, dating apps and stem cell research facilities, with a harrowing glimpse into the mysterious beings who live beyond the sky.
Alexander in Mimesis is an audio narrative which accompanies the public sculpture series Meleagris Live Free or Die (2022).
Mimesis Meleagris
It was Alexander's first time venturing out alone in Manchester - that is, Manchester, New Hampshire, New England, United States of America - not (as he had believed when applying for the commission) Manchester, original England. Not original Hampshire. And not The United Kingdom…
* WARNING - This artwork contains some strong language, and scenes that some listeners may find disturbing *
Mimesis Golem
Alexander rolled the eggs on the counter till their shells cracked and dropped off. He crossed over to his sofa, and picked up a flyer for an antique shop from the coffee table. “I was told to go to this antique shop down the street.”
* WARNING - This artwork contains some strong language, and scenes that some listeners may find disturbing *
Mimesis Cog
There were several calendar prompts set for the day: first, he was due to visit the stem cell research institute, then the local factory museum. In the evening he would find a friendly bar and celebrate the new year.
* WARNING - This artwork contains some strong language, and scenes that some listeners may find disturbing *
Audio atmosphere composed by Cornelius Link - “Alexander In Mimesis Theme“, “Calm Synth“, “Exciting Beat I & II“, ”Happy Loop”, “Sad and Sentimental”, “Nostalgic“, “Neutral pad“, “Scary Atmosphere“, “Alexander In Mimesis Outro.“
Audio atmosphere composed by Youkyung Cho - “Chaos Drums“, “Mystery“, “Not Deep, Nor Shallow“ and “The Shoulder of Wind“.
Featuring SFX from Massachusetts Institute of Technology - “Echoes from a Black Hole”, “Colliding Black Holes“
Featuring SFX from Zapsplat.com and Freesound.org - angie81dee, Blastwave_FX, blimp66, brotherprovisional, bumpelsnake, caitlin-100, crystal clear sound effects, earlcash05, ears68, fajack, felix_blume, georgisound, halimturk, henrique85n, inspectorj, klankbeeld, nox-sound, ondrosik, robinhood76, rcantu175, silentseason, smartsound, TE038201, thegoose09.