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UAL Research Online

Automaton

Dower, Sean (2006) Automaton. [Art/Design Item]

Type of Research: Art/Design Item
Creators: Dower, Sean
Description:

This is an exhibition of a single screen video projection in a group exhibition at Tate Britain and other venues.

The film was commissioned by the Film and Video Umbrella, for gallery exhibition, outdoor and cinematic screening and web-download. All works included in the exhibition were filmed in one single, continuous take.

My film ‘Automaton’ features the improvising percussionist Steve Noble playing a black and chrome drum-kit. The camera movement was programmed using a Motion Control camera rig (of the type often used in commercial cinema and television for special effects). One of the aims of the film was to represent on an equal footing, both the performance and the technology of its representation. The camera explored the drum-set from every angle during its elegant and complex journey, catching glimpses of the dynamic performance, which comprises the soundtrack. Referencing the ‘live’ single take in cinema (Orson Wells’, Touch of Evil) and the technology behind subjectively perceived camera movement e.g. The Steady-Cam as used by Stanley Kubric in The Shining or 2001, A Space Odyssey), my film also explored improvisation and the ‘live take’ in music.

The film can be reviewed on a web-site which accompanies the exhibition (www.single-shot.co.uk). The Exhibition was reviewed in The Times with a complementary paragraph dedicated to Automaton, which was also described positively by Jonathan Romney in a review in Modern Painters. The film will be profiled at the Estampa Art fair in Madrid in October 2007. Project supported by the Arts Council and Film Council of Great Britain.

Official Website: http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/singleshot
Additional Information (Publicly available):

Automaton was exhibited at Tate Britain during November - December 2006 and then toured to a number of venues around the UK and Ireland (including Manchester, Gateshead, Birmingham and Galway). Other Artists featured include Clio Barnard, Ori Gersht, Mike Marshall and George Barber.

Your affiliations with UAL: Colleges > Chelsea College of Arts
Date: 3 November 2006
Related Websites: http://www.chelsea.arts.ac.uk/17271.htm, http://www.single-shot.co.uk/, http://www.seandower.com/
Related Websites:
Locations / Venues:
LocationFrom DateTo Date
'Single Shot' group exhibition, Tate Britain, London, U.K.3 November 2006December 2006
Manchester13 January 2007
Newcastle/Gateshead1 February 2007
Birmingham21 February 2007
Leeds/Bradford16 March 2007
Date Deposited: 07 Dec 2009 09:29
Last Modified: 14 Sep 2010 10:52
Item ID: 1038
URI: https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/1038

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