Tim Woodward: Sleeping Under A Motorcycle Not Sleepy

Operating within the pictorial language of the tableau, Sleeping Under a Motorcycle Not Sleepy (2019) features a male figure resting beside a motorcycle. The young man wears a plain white T-shirt, black jeans, a wristwatch and colourful socks. He reclines on a rolled out mattress with cushions, and in this relaxed state, scrolls on his phone and listens to music through earbuds. His eyelids are heavy with fatigue, but he does not sleep.

Presented on CCP’s Night Projection Window (NPW) over the holiday break, Sleeping Under a Motorcycle Not Sleepy is a contemporary portrait of the platform economy worker in “sleep mode”. Through a deferral of sleep, replacing an “off/on” binary, here the gig worker remains held in a state of low-power readiness. This silent video is presented on a four-minute loop, with no clear beginning or end.

Tim Woodward’s practice extends from the lineages of conceptual art, embracing the potential of an imagination yielded by language. He has exhibited widely in Australia and abroad. Recent solo exhibitions include 8 Soups, Institute For Provocation, Beijing (2019); TV Insides, Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne (2018); Central Station, Kuiper, Brisbane (2018); Plus Solids, Bus Projects, Melbourne (2017); and Cosmo’s, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney (2016). Recent group exhibitions include ARTJOG MMXIX Arts in Common, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta (2019) and Check Website For Details, Kuiper, Brisbane (2019). Awards include the Sainsbury Sculpture Grant, the Cité des Arts Moyra Dyring Studio awarded by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant and the Asialink Visual Arts Residency.

Tim Woodward is a current MFA research candidate at Monash University, Melbourne.