Mercury - a solo exhibition by Becky Šik for Collective Gallery, Edinburgh.

In Mercury unseen physical forces, bodies and objects appear through silvery surfaces, electromagnetic phenomena and technologies, echoing and reverberating with the fullness of our shared atmosphere. Mercury was a single-screen film installation resulting from research into amateur hobbyists activities of magnet fishing and Satellite tracking and the relationship of these hobbies to electromagnetic forces and constructs of time and state.

A voice-over blends poetic reflections and factual information permeating the screen with data and through the amateur and hobbyist’s electro-magnetic enthusiasms, we consider questions of ownership and the commons. These night-time and marginal activities of probing confront aspects of stealth, scavenging and (counter) surveillance. Shot largely at night, the film blends digital and 16mm film footage with audio recordings of bats, experiments with homemade magnetic musical instruments and a kit-Theremin.

The exhibition was commissioned by Collective Gallery and supported by Creative Scotland, Baillie Gifford, Esmée Fairbairn, Royal Scottish Academy and The Bothy Project.