Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard
| Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 13, 1973 / November 4, 1972 Bolton, England / Durham, England |
| Residence | London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Goldsmiths College |
| Known for | Video art |
| Notable work | File under Sacred Music, Silent Sound, Radio Mania, 20,000 Days on Earth |
| Movement | Contemporary Art |
| Awards | Nominated for Best Documentary BAFTA (2015), Nominated for Independent Spirit Awards (2014), Winner of Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) at British Independent Film Awards (2014), Shortlisted for Jarman Award (2014), winner of Golden Athena at Athens International Film Festival, winner of Sundance Directing Award (2014), Nominated for Samsung Art+ Prize (2012), Great North Run Moving Image Commission (2008), New Contemporaries (1997) |
| Website | www.iainandjane.com |
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard are British artists and filmmakers. Forsyth was born in Manchester in 1973, Pollard in Newcastle in 1972. In 2013 they celebrated 20 years of working together with a party at the 100 Club in London.
Forsyth and Pollard met and began working collaboratively while studying Fine Art and Art Theory at Goldsmiths College, graduating together in 1995. They initially focused on live performance events, but since 2003 their work has been predominantly film and video based. They returned to Goldsmiths in 2002, receiving an MA degree in Fine Art in 2004.
They have restaged David Bowie's farewell performance as Ziggy Stardust, a 1973 video work by Vito Acconci (working with rap artist Plan B) and a 1968 work by Bruce Nauman. In 2003 the artists recreated the 1978 Cramps performance at the Napa Mental Institute at the ICA in a work entitled File under Sacred Music. The work caused some controversy by including an audience of patients undergoing psychiatric care. The musicians were assembled by Forsyth and Pollard for the project and included Alfonso Pinto from The Parkinsons as Lux Interior, Holly Golightly as Poison Ivy, former Headcoat Bruce Brand as Bryan Gregory and John Gibbs as longtime Cramps drummer Nick Knox.
Silent Sound, featuring an original score by J. Spaceman, was presented at the 2006 Liverpool Biennial. The piece was originally presented as a live performance that took place in the Small Concert Hall at St. George's Hall, Liverpool. It was based, in part, on the public séance act performed by Victorian entertainers The Davenport Brothers. During the performance the artists were seated on-stage inside a soundproof booth based on the Davenport's "Spirit Cabinet". Together they recited a single phrase into a microphone, which was fed into a machine they had created that claimed to embed the phrase as a subliminal message into the music, which was performed live by a small orchestra. The Davenport Brothers had performed their act on the same stage in 1865. The performance was introduced by Ciarán O'Keeffe, a British parapsychologist who became famous after appearing as the resident skeptic on the paranormal television series Most Haunted. An installation of "Silent Sound" was then presented by A Foundation at Greenland Street, Liverpool. An ambisonic recording of the live performance was incorporated into a large-scale immersive installation, created in consultation with acousticians from Arup. The installation was recreated inside a shipping container in 2008 for Art Basel Miami Beach where it was described by the New York Times as "one of the fair's biggest word-of-mouth hits". In 2010 Silent Sound was re-presented as part of the AV Festival at Middlesbrough Town Hall.
...
Wikipedia