22 September 2009
Pioneer of film and video installation Diana Thater will be the third major artist to exhibit at Towner, Eastbourne’s new contemporary art museum and largest gallery space in the South East. Tigers and Other People, Thater’s first solo show in a UK public gallery, opens to the public on 26 September 2009.
Towner’s 400m2 Exhibition Gallery will be completely transformed once again, as film footage of tigers, manipulated through innovative editing techniques and light saturation, creates an immersive installation that transcends the natural world and the confines of architecture.
Spearheading film and video installation since the early 1990s, American artist Thater has been a major influence on the genre. Describing her work as “Neo-Structuralist Installation”, she layers her films over the architecture, using light filtration to create ambient and intensely colourful environments in which both the gallery space and the viewer become integral to the work. Through a variety of filming and editing techniques, she purposefully disconcerts the viewer and challenges the way we perceive the moving image.
The interaction between humans and the natural world is a recurring motif in Thater’s work, her subjects often animals that are endangered or nearing extinction. Through her work she explores man’s impact on the natural world, both as adversary and custodian, whilst exposing the sometimes startling similarities between animal behaviour and our own.
This exhibition will consist of three films of rescued female tigers, playing in their enclosure at a big cat sanctuary in California. The star of the pieces is Zoe, a tiger made blind through human abuse. Each of the works, shot on 35mm film, explores a different way of structuring film using manual editing techniques (now largely abandoned since the advent of computer-generated images). The gallery will be flooded with amber light, creating an absorbing environment in which viewers literally step into the work, their shadows interacting with the images as they walk through the space.
Eastbourne Borough Council Cabinet Member for Tourism, Cllr Susan Morris said: “Diana aims to make viewers look anew at an architectural environment, and as we wanted viewers to experience the new Towner’s Exhibition Gallery in a wholly different way once again, she seemed a perfect choice of artist for our next show. We are delighted to work with an artist of such a high profile and calibre, and we hope that Diana’s international profile will entice visitors to Frieze Art Fair in October to make the short trip out of London, to experience equally outstanding contemporary art in the seaside setting of Eastbourne!”
Elizabeth Gilmore, Head of Visual Arts, Arts Council England, South East, added: “Diana is a true pioneer of film installation, and it’s great to see Towner bring such an acclaimed international artist to the region. This exhibition will also give Diana’s work the platform it deserves within the UK, as this will be her first solo show in a public gallery – another fantastic first for Towner.”
Tigers and Other People will run until 29 November. This exhibition is kindly supported by the Devonshire Park Hotel, Towner’s accommodation partner for this show.
