still images © Shen Xin

Shoulders of Giants

performative event, symposium at Senate House, London, 4 channel video installation, 91:21, 2015

Shoulders of Giants appropriates and extends the model of a symposium through animation, performance and projection. The invited speakers animated creatures derived from Shan Hai Jing (Also known as The Classics of Mountains and Seas, C4th BC) as they speak, discuss and conduct Q&A. The event was held at Senate House, London on 29 July 2015. Shoulders of Giants seeks to investigate the strategies that artists, theorists and critics employ to deal with mechanisms of power – such as oppression and censorship, surveillance and punishment, unemployment and estranged labour – that are inherent in daily politics; to highlight the many desires that are afloat where power multiplies, unfolds, fluctuates, and diminishes; to render visible the physical and psychological affects that they have. Invited speakers includes Esther Leslie, Simon O’Sullivan, Hannah Black and Mark Fisher.

Speakers and Motion Capture: Hannah Black, Mark Fisher, Esther Leslie, Simon O’Sullivan

Animation Models: He Jiaying, Wang Ruoxuan

Camera: May Heek, Shen Xin

Editor: Shen Xin

Supported by Chronus Art Centre Shanghai and Birmingham City University