Penance For Environmental Destruction: Gareth Bate
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Penance is intended to represent a bizarre act of self-punishment and humiliation for the guilt of environmental destruction. MY WEBSITE: http://www.garethbate.comPLEASE RATE IT, LEAVE COMMENTS & SHARE!CREDITS:Artist & Performer: Gareth BateStreet Filming: Saglara KitchikovaStudio & Country Filming: Gareth BateEditing: Gareth BateSpecial Thanks: Carolyn Dinsmore & Georgina NevilleWATCH IN HQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ona1xp…PRESS:Penance was recently mentioned in the canada’s national newspaper the Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Checkerspot a Climate Change magazine, Toronto’s Xtra, L’Express, Metropolitain and SNAP newspapers.ARTIST STATEMENT: I am an artist based in Toronto, Canada. The performance video Penance is intended to represent a bizarre act of self-punishment and humiliation for the guilt of environmental destruction. It also captures a sense of helplessness in the face of the overwhelming accumulation of problems facing the world. What can I do? I see this act as half serious and half ridiculous. In November 2007 I crawled on my stomach with a reconstructed field of grass on my back along Torontos Queen Street West starting at Soho Street. When I reached the busy intersection of Spadina Avenue I was faced with the dilemma of taking it to the next level and crossing the street, or turning back. Rather than take the risk, like our society I crawled backwards instead. After two painful and tiring hours I had to give up. The Penance video moves back and forth between the agonizing performance, the bewildered response of onlookers, and contemplative scenes of gleaning grass in the countryside. Reconstructing the body piece out of grass gleaned from the countryside was itself a reflective act. Agnès Vardas beautiful film The Gleaners and I was an inspiration for the gleaning process. Penance is my first performance and is best understood within the context of my paintings, installations and videos.See the still photos from PENANCE…http://www.garethbate.com/artwork_pag…EXHIBITIONS:This piece has been exhibited in Toronto as a large projection at Glendon Gallery, York University Glendon Campus, Gallery 260 at 401 Richmond, and in November at the Gladstone Hotel “Hard Twist” exhibition. It is available in high quality DVD for exhibition. Contact me via my website.
this is tooooo good
Thanks!What did you like about it?
wats a penance
Was that you Gareth doing the crawling? That took a lot of courage to do. But I shudder to think of the germs & bacteria that latched on to you.
haha. The sidewalk is pretty gross I must admit.
nice
Wow, this is getting popular. Nearly 3000 views that is great.
That’s what’s great about them though. If they looked good all the time, the moment wouldn’t be so special…And when you see it happen, you say to yourself ‘Wow, I’m in the right place, at exactly the right moment’.
When I first watched this I was really concerned on how you managed to cross the street! Was there any particular reason why you chose soho – spadina? or was it because of the popularity of the location?
Hi, Thanks for commenting. I actually chose that stretch of Queen Street for a few reasons. Between Soho and Spadina there are no cross streets so I could crawl the whole way. The sidewalk is really wide so I wouldnt get walked on, and it is also really commercial and trendy so I thought it would have a funny reaction. And it is also close to the Art Gallery of Ontario and Ontario College of Art & Design – so it is somewhat arty. Doing it in a different neighbourhood would have been different.