A Day in the Office

“In Western cities, office buildings are the contemporary icons of economic prosperity and Liverpool is building fast to attract new business, increasingly affecting the daily working lives of the city’s inhabitants.

In A Day on the Office (2006), Pennanen looks at both the exterior and the interior of the developing city in a double perspective on its current expansion. Juxtaposing the decaying office buildings once at the centre of Liverpool trade and commerce with new blue-chip developments cropping up on once derelict streets, the work examines the changing visual and spatial language of Liverpool’s built environment.

‘A Day in the Office’ 2006. Video still.

‘A Day in the Office’ 2006. Video still.

What makes office buildings unique are the people who inhabit them, working long hours, bringing their physical presence to bear upon these spaces. Through collaborating with Liverpool office workers Pennanen steps behind the facades of the city centre to show the individual relationships and personal narratives that exist within workers’ day-to-day experiences. A Day in the office is a two part work, presenting within FACT’s cinema spaces individuals’ journeys as they explore and uncover their daydreams, memories and daily rituals, alongside a richly filmic depiction of the city that frames these experiences, projected in the evenings onto the outside of the building above the recently developed Fleet Street.”

Kathryn Dempsey. Excerpt from the catalogue of Liverpool Biennial International 06.

Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial International 06 in collaboration with FACT

Video installation. Colour HD DV CAM transferred to DVD. Duration 16 min/loop, sound stereo and 12min/loop, no sound. Dimensions variable. Sound by Timothy Lambert. 2006.

Screening version available.