Tacita Dean: Film Works

by Briony Fer, Rina Carvajal, Tacita Dean (Artist)

The invisible, the trace, the almost-there British-born Tacita Dean's 16-mm films create remarkable drama from astonishingly little visual presence. In addition to an ambient sound track, we hear the workings of the projector, we become aware of the mechanics of the film moving through the gate, we focus on processing irregularities--accidental or intentional. Published alongside her recent exhibition at Miami Art Central, this volume gathers key films together with Dean's poetic narratives, which become discrete works in themselves when juxtaposed with the still images. In this way, Film Works reveals another facet of Dean's output, rather than functioning entirely as a catalogue of works. The films included, which date from the 1990s to the present, are accompanied by essays by art historian and theorist Briony Fer, and Miami Art Central Chief Curator Rina Carvajal. Represented by Marian Goodman Gallery in New York, Dean received the 2006 Hugo Boss Prize.

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Briony Fer, FBA is a British art historian, critic, and curator; professor of history of art at University College London. She has written extensively on diverse topics of 20th century and contemporary art.

Reviews

[Zydeco Lamaze · Rating 5 out of 5]

I now have 12 Dean films I need to see desperately that I have no way of seeing. Teignmouth Electron? Disappearance at Sea??? I’m obsessed and I haven’t even seen them. The only film in this book I’ve had the pleasure of seeing is Sound Mirrors. I checked out the only two Dean films at my university. Neither have been digitized— the librarian asked if I had a working VHS player and I was nodding before he’d finished speaking not knowing if I did. When I say watching those films was like some simultaneously unearthly ethereal experience and something so corporeal I know I contradict myself but I simply cannot describe it. It’s edible. More than that it’s sustaining. I have slept 3 hours, I have traveled very far, I am tired, and all I can think about is Tacita Dean. Reader, I’m losing it.