Horses and
lens-based media came into conjunction with Eadweard Muybridge's
experimental photographs of a horse at gallop in 1872 which reversed the
accepted beliefs about animal locomotion by proving that all four hooves
leave the ground at once. These famous images have proved the inspiration
for more recent work such as Steven Pippin's Laundromat Locomotion (Horse
and Rider) 1997 which were based around Muybridge's invention of
sequential triggered photographs which prefigured film.
This show
extends the relation by looking at how the image of the horse is being
used in current work in photography and video. A number of artists are
working with this image; possibly because, as John Berger suggests, as our
relationship to animals becomes more remote and ritualised representations
become more prolific; as if to take their place. The horse image is chosen
perhaps because it is a repository of different, conflicting associations
about power, obsession and sexuality. The exhibition includes work by
Janet Biggs, Lucy Gunning, Tim MacMillan, Meloni Poole and Jane
Quinn.