‘The Last Ray of the Dying Sun’ – Tacita Dean’s commitment to analogue media as demonstrated through FLOH and FILM

• Main Author: Caylin Smith
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam University Press 2012-01-01
• Series: NECSUS : European journal of media studies
• Online Access: https://www.necsus-ejms.org/test/the-last-ray-of-the-dying-sun-tacita-deans-commitment-to-analogue-media-as-demonstrated-through-floh-and-film/

Regarding FILM, an installation that took place from 11 October 2011 to 11 March 2012 as part of Tate Modern’s Unilever Series, the artist Tacita Dean remarks that ‘it is a platform for me to say let’s protect film’. Dean’s simple, bold statement will allow me to expand upon the importance of this work and FLOH – her earlier artist’s book of collected photographs – in regard to her crusade to illustrate the importance of analogue film technology. Whereas issues of memory and preservation are heavily articulated throughout Dean’s entire oeuvre, my discussion will be restricted primarily to these works, since they allow great insight into two analogue mediums and how viewers engage with such material.