Diamond Sea, 1997, had it's inception when Aitken became curious about a "blank spot" in Namibia while perusing a map of Southwest Africa. Upon further investigation, it turned out the area was a 75,000 square kilometer, corporate-owned, completely automated diamond mine simply called "Diamond Area 1 and 2". It has been closed off from the world since 1908. And after a year of paperwork, Doug spent one month there where he made an art film of its barren landscape, with its barbed wire, computerized conveyor belts, robotic arms and a surveillance system that is constantly on the look-out for intruders. Aside from these ever-prowling helicopters, the only signs of life in this harsh mysterious landscape are sleek, black, wild horses, offspring of those that escaped a wrecked Portugese freighter, generations ago. And of course, the mounds and mounds of ever-drifting sand.
Diamond Sea, 1997, is presented as a faintly illuminated backdrop hung on one wall in a completely darkened room. The video of the Namib Desert that Aitken shot is itself projected from laserdiscs on walls and is also viewed on a monitor on a fourth wall. Combined with a soundtrack mixing local ambience (crashing waves, buzzing flies) with ghostly electronic music by artists such as "Nine Inch Nails" and "Aphex Twin", Diamond Sea is a mesmerizing piece that draws the viewer into a world of contrasts, giving new vitality to the age-old theme of man against nature.
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