On Saturday 21st of January, I went to visit an exhibition by Tacita Dean in Tate Modern with some people from our filmmaking group. Tacita Dean is a British artist, best known for her 16mm film work. Her latest artwork is the 35mm silent film, projected on a large wall in Turbine Hall. Entitled FILM, the 11 minute piece features still and moving images of rocks, ducks and mushrooms with special effects of lightning, bubbles and smoke. I later learned that many of the pictures were references to old science and nature documentaries.
The film was played on a continuous loop, it wasn’t after two or three loops that I felt I got enough inspiration out of it. I liked how the film threw off a surreal feeling, putting images together that wouldn’t necessarily sit together. What I found fascinating was the process of making the film and how the artist had to cut the shots she wanted on a Steenbeck table and stick them together with tape.
A few of my favourite things were the use of the bubbles and fragments of the building put into shapes of cirles and triangles, overlapping the actual image of the building. A mixture of old film and modern effects were used with colours ranging from black and white to sepia to block. I thought that the film on the wall fitted proportionally in the space of the dark hall.
Some people might say that this film could have been done on digital. Tacita Dean responds, “Of course you can, but then you can’t as well.”
The exhibition will be showing until the 11th of March and entry is free. After seeing the Tacita Dean exhibition, we went for a stroll around the gallery to look at other artworks.
Other pieces I found interesting:
The Avenger by Ernst Barlach
The serious facial expression is what drew me to the sculpture.
Staircase-III by Do Ho Suh
Do Ho Suh creates objects from personal memories using fabric. I’d like to see more of his work.
Me outside Tate Modern
The Headstarters 