Monday, 5 October 2015

The Woolworths Choir of 1979 - Elizabeth Price

The Woolworths Choir of 1979 by Elizabeth Price is a Video installation, which featured in the Turner in 2012. Price won the Turner Prize that year - awarded for excellence in Art and with prize money of £20000. More details here: The Turner Prize on Wikipedia

I saw this installation and was mesmerised by its simplicity and power. The narrative that Price creates combines historical imagery from Gothic church choir stalls with footage from 1970's TV and a news feature about a deadly fire that occurred in a Manchester branch of Woolworths.

I find the work inspirational because Price broke the mould of what 'video art' could be both as medium and concept. This is because the work ingeniously incorporates elements of historic culture/ anthropology, graphic design, popular culture (TV) and aspects of journalism and weaves them together with a haunting soundtrack to tell a story that is filled with mystery and tension.
In subsequent interviews with the artist it is no coincidence that Prince defines her art as that which has the history of culture and media as well as their means of production at her disposal; From historic archived material for content to photography or graphic design and montage effects as a means for making - an acknowledgement that the terms of reference for what is possible and how we perceive and make visual art has changed dramatically with the advent of digital technology.



Further Info - Interview with Elizabeth Price (4.08 min)

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