On Sunday 14th June 2020, we were delighted to welcome John Wynne for a unique performance as part of the online Finissage for the exhibition Borders.
Cats and Dogs is a live performance for violin and moving image created for online audiences during the Coronavirus lockdown in London. The artist occupies the viewer’s screen, manipulating video footage by Denise Hawrysio with the sound of his violin, performed in real time. The restricted visual field, claustrophobic atmosphere and almost monochromatic image are redolent of the situation we have all found ourselves in at this extraordinary time.
Formally, the work relates to avant-garde filmmaking practices of the 1970s, both visually and in its use of process as an integral component of the visual composition. Although the sound of the violin controls the scale of the image directly, the inherent latency of the internet means that the relationship between image and sound is rarely synchronised, further underpinning the sense of disjuncture and alienation.
