Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall is currently playing host to Turner Prize nominee Tacita Dean’s latest work ‘FILM’. However, reports have suggested that due to the nature and aim of her project, Dean’s work nearly failed to make the wall of the hallowed hall. Her work is an homage to the use of analogue film, utilising tricks and techniques that have been present in traditional film making since the Lumiere brothers. However, a mere ten days before the show was due to open, Dean discovered that the technician hired to cut her film had inserted flashes of bright light ever four seconds in a mistake that is being called ‘a cock-up of colossal proportions’. Last minute negotiations and a scrabble for a technician with the expertise required to cut this dying art-form led to the film being recut by Steve Farman, 52, a technician who has worked on major blockbusters such as Batman Begins. However, Steve did not see this as a step down, and as a like-minded lover of analogue film his work for Dean has been described as one of the proudest moments of his career. Thanks to Steve, and the dedication to the art of analogue film displayed by Tacita Dean, the exhibition has managed to open successfully, and to critical acclaim.
Words: Mike Philo / Photo: Thomas Keane © 2011 ArtLyst