1990

Going for Goldfish juxtaposes athletes on their pedestals with the everyday woman struggling to touch her toes. Essentially an ironic glance at something that is as much about spectator sport as about athletic achievement. This was one of five video/electronic media Public Arts Projects commissioned by Cornerhouse, Manchester and Film and Video Umbrella, London as an official project to help consolidate Manchester’s bid to host the Olympics in 1996.

Suffering for sport, health and body beautiful has become something of a national or international pastime, and suffering for not suffering something of a sub-culture. Against an Olympian Backdrop we invented characters in order to explore this phenomenon with some distinctly odd results…

Screenings and exhibitions include:
The Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 1990; The 34th London Film Festival, 1990; Ave ’90, International Experimental Art Festival, Arnhem, Holland, 1990; TV4 Nordisk Television, Norway 1990; The Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Austria, 1991; The Berlin Videofest, Germany, 1991; Siggraph ’91 Las Vegas Art Show, and tour including The Computer Museum, Boston 1991; Video Art Plastique, France 1991; Media Shock: Visual Fusion, Electronic Theater ’92, Pace University, New York and featured in LVA’s “State of The Art” videocollection.

Going for Goldfish was handdrawn on an Amiga 2000 computer using DeluxePaint III software
Duration 2 mins

Distributed by Lux (formerly London Electronic Arts)