Derz plays with the dynamics of interpersonal conversation to explore the binary nature of language, that is the power to connect and it’s potential failure to convey a message. The theme of the love/song acts as the vehicle by which to convey the paradoxical idea: that with any relationship, despite linkages, there exists an implicit separation.
Onscreen subtitles infer a dialogue between the two characters, yet it becomes unclear if in fact a direct exchange is taking place. A split screen visually divides the space occupied by the characters, like two facing pages of a book. A dissimilar light on either half of the screen is used to isolate the figures, and to convey the sense of alternate time zones. Transportation love song uses a found boat, originally a recreational vessel. It is over 100 years old, and was hauled from a riverbed in the Royal National Park, where it had been decomposing for decades.
In the exhibition essay David Teh writes,
[Transportation Love Song] explores the limits, possibilities and impossibilities of conversation. In a boat at sea, two figures must converse; but as day becomes night, they appear to inhabit different worlds, different times. Just as their conversation is full of holes, so too is the boat – it is far from sea-worthy; it is, perhaps like all communication, destined to fail.— David Teh, “Year of the Dog, China town Public Arts Project”, in Oliver Watts et al. ½ Dozen 2006: ½ Dozen Artist Run Initiative 2006 Catalogue (Sydney: Half Dozen Limited, 2006), 4.
