Film

Film by Tacita Dean in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern.

The lights are out in the Turbine Hall at the Tate and its as if a giant piece of film is propped up and backlit. In fact it is a projected looping film shot on 35ml with panoramic cinemascope lens turned on its side and the effects were created physically, not digitally. It is a moving collage; artist cut up images from her large postcard collection or used footage of waterfalls and a snail, like stock footage. She has hand coloured black and white film, exposed it many times through the camera and masked it to create the collage. The film is treated as a very physical material and Tacita Dean says she has been lead by the ‘magic’ of the medium and likes the unpredictable results. Though loved, analogue is being forced out and it is digital switch over everywhere, and the film labs are closing one by one. So this is her response, a homage to film.