This work thinks about the rings of Saturn and the gaps in between, known as divisions, as moving images spin through fields of space created by the interactive corporeality of 16mm film. In making this work, excerpts of 16mm film have been hand animated by Nikki Walkerden using scratch and bleach techniques as well as utilising silver jewellery making tools; marking, puncturing and sawing film to interact with light during projection on a Steenbeck editing table. Found 16mm footage of Saturn was edited in frame with digital animation, super 8 was filmed with the cinematic simulation of day for night at various locations and digital footage recorded a rare super moonrise producing unusual shadows under waves.

Rings and Divisions – On Saturn’s Edge includes an original composition by Olga Solar and an instrument was invented specifically for the piece, which is played by an ensemble. In this piece, orbiting acoustic sounds perform atmospheric imaginings of being on Saturn’s edge, resonating as a percussive flight in space. Olga Solar and Nikki Walkerden began collaborating as part of The Cosmos Project by the Spacebears Collective, screening in concert at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2014) and exhibited in Gallery 2010. 

Nicola Walkerden and Olga Solar, Rings and Divisions – On Saturn’s Edge, 2014- 2016, 16mm & super8 film to digital video. Original composition ‘On Saturn’s Edge’ by Olga Solar, 5:51min