Output details

Siberian Tiger

Siberian Tiger was commissioned by Jacqui Davies (also producer) and FACT in association with Arts Council England for Random Acts (Channel 4's strand of artist-led three-minute films). Other artists commissioned include Marina Abramovic, Mark Leckey, Mark Wallinger, Martha Rosler and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Palme d'Or, 2010). It was broadcast on Channel 4 on 9th November 2012. It was also conceived to be watched online and can be viewed at- http://www.artplayer.tv/video/495/siberian-tiger

The intention was to make a compelling video with an environmental message in the form of a monologue. Siberian Tiger uses the voice-over of a professional actor and adopts the same type of format as shopping channel television, a format that deliberately engages viewers with the intention of product sales. Siberian Tiger was produced from a number of digital photographs of a kitsch painting of a tiger by the artist/painter Stephen Gayford. (I purchased the copyright to the painting). The script was written from viewing many hours of shopping channel TV online. It was important to achieve the same authentic sales jargon used by the TV presenters, and the piece is sound-led. John Berger's essay, 'Why We Look at Animals', is also a reference, particularly issues about the human consumption of Nature and our subsequent estrangement from the natural world. Siberian Tiger is also a satirical take on the art market's use of limited editions to make them more unique, desirable and expensive. Siberian Tiger has also been screened at the Rome Festival, 2012; Glasgow Film Festival 2013 (www.glasgowfilm.org/festival/whats_on/4823_random_acts) and Kino der Kunst, Munich 2013 (www.kinoderkunst.de/homepage/about.php?lang=en).

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