Brooklyn-based artistic collaborators Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, who also happen to be married to one another are making their London debut as part of tomorrow's opening of BFI South Bank
. We've been all over the internet looking up this couple's work in anticipation of finally being able to see this new arts space and we can't think of anything better as the first exhibition in the gallery space.
They love films. They love cinema. They love each other. They make art installations that bring all of that together.
Tiny, Funny, Big and Sad is the couple's exhibition of their 2004 Traffic series of miniature sets and models of moments in their personal lives that are connected to a film or cinema experience. The image we've used is from Traffic #2: At Home, capturing in fascinating and tiny detail a memory the couple share of watching Sugarland Express in their living room at home. Carefully positioned cameras placed among the models and within the sets film from multiple angles and these images are then sequenced by special computer software to broadcast a real-time animated "film." As life embraces art, life creates art and art recreates life to come up with something that is indeed tiny, funny, big and sad.
A second work by this intriguing artistic pair is the specially commissioned installation The Constant World in the foyer of the new BFI Southbank space. A giant plasma screen, 36 live video cameras, a miniature film set suspended from the ceiling on a multiple-armed mobile and an idea based on an imaginary city designed by Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys... it's got to be good.
Tiny, Funny, Big and Sad at BFI Southbank Gallery, from Wednesday 14 March to 28 May, entry is free. For more information, go to the BFI Southbank website here.
Image credit: Image from Traffic #2: At Home courtesy of Jennifer and Kevin McCoy.
