Medium: Video loop (Full HD)

Duration: 4 minutes 40 seconds

The video artwork ‘Host’ (2010) was filmed on location at the Anatomy Museum of the Royal Veterinary College in London.

In the artwork the viewer is witness to an intimate encounter between the artist and the specimens contained throughout the glass display cases in the museum – mostly animal, some human.

Spinning constantly in between the museum displays, the artist softly recites a hundred word text written specifically for the occasion. This text is engraved on ordinary razorblades (one word per blade) that also produce sound as each blade is thrown against the glass after being read. Nonetheless, the viewer cannot actually hear the words.

The viewer is presented only with the movements of the artists’ body and the sounds of the blades as captured from behind a glass display case. Moreover, the artist body is fragmented into multiple reflections that seem to take on a life of their own: Initially these reflections duly follow the central figure’s movement. But, as the action progressively unfolds, the two reflections on the side go completely out of sync until, as if by magic, they all complete the performance at exactly the same time.

Production assistant: Wayne Binitie

Special thanks:

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC)

Mr Andrew Crook (Senior Technician. Department: Veterinary Basic Sciences, RVC)

Also see the work ‘Host 1′ (2010) filed under the ‘Performance’ section.