Mackrell challenges the physicality of an object within an explored time frame. He adapts materials such as a roll of cartridge paper, a candle or a fluorescent tube to create interactive installations often of a site-specific nature.
Mackrell is particularly interested in an object’s durability and sustainability, for example in the ‘Conical series’ he rolls cartridge paper into large-scale cones, which are then used to guide different forms of light and video projections through rooms. Other work includes his recent video installation, ‘Three points of View’ that investigates two broken fluorescent tubes placed against one another in the corner of the studio. Mackrell captured their intermittent flashing for as long as the tubes remained active. When the tubes stopped lighting, filming ended and the video was projected back into the corner in place of the original tubes.
Mackrell’s latest work, ‘Strained Vision’ is a group of various sized street, sign and shop light boxes the artist has been collecting which was presented as an installation as part of Where Beats This Human Heart.
