Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Oxford
The Tent
The Tent is a single-screen, 12-minute narrative video, incorporating live action, motion graphics and sound. It is intended for presentation as a single screen gallery installation, although it is also occasionally screened in theatrical settings. The video is derived from a single book published by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1972 called Systems, featuring the work of the British Systems Group of Artists. The book is the video’s sole visual subject and the only source for its narration, and the piece reflects on the reductive and idealising methodologies that characterise the art featured in the book in order to consider the relationship between artistic and social processes of formation. The piece was commissioned by Frieze Foundation and Channel 4 for Frieze Film with additional funding from Arts Council England and the Royal College of Art Research Development Fund.
The Tent was premiered at Frieze Art Fair, London and on Channel 4 in 2010 and has since been seen at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Pratt Institute, New York and Bloomberg Space, London. It has been purchased by the Tate Collection.
