Waiting for the Natural to be Turned On is a moving image work by Susie Olczak released as a part of Fire, Earth, Air, Water.

Waiting for the Natural to be Turned On is a part of an ongoing work that considers the human relationship with nature, how it is domesticated and how it is everywhere, even in the most urban of spaces. It was originally installed as a spatial projection that aims to ask the viewer to question their perception of nature and knowledge of what is truly natural.

Human intervention is everywhere and there is so little that is purely natural. The landscape is formed from human interaction and traces of them are everywhere. Waiting for the Natural to be Turned On is a visual journey in which layers and collages together footage of plants and water from within the gardens and intertwining materials found in the studio and architectural spaces. This work highlights the similarities between the way humans build and adapt to how nature grows and evolves. Handmade collages are woven into the imagery and the footage goes in and out of focus.

Waiting for the Natural to be Turned On takes its starting point from the painting The Great Cascade at Hestercombe by Bampfylde, 1762 and another image from the archives at Hestercombe where a group of spectators await the turning back on of the waterfall. The work also draws from the history of framing within gardens used as a device to draw the viewer to the next vantage point.

Throughout the work there are reoccurring shots that incorporate perforations and geometry to frame and obscure the view. It is intended to be hypnotic and disorienting to suggest that we can find balance within the fragmentation of our experiences and memories of spaces we spend time within in real life and amidst the abundance of digital media we swim through every day.