Device
1996 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
2:45 minutes
John Wood and Paul Harrison
One of John Wood and Paul Harrison’s earliest works, Device features Harrison performing a series of actions, assisted by the titular ‘devices’, that use physics to force his body into unusual and uncomfortable positions. Maintaining his signature deadpan expression throughout the video, in one scene Harrison is thrusted into the air by a slowly inflating balloon until only his feet are visible in the frame, while in another he levitates in diving position with the help of a pulley system. Wood uses his body and specially-designed props created by the artist duo to explore the space of the screen in hilarious, and sometimes clumsy or violent, ways. Framed as a pseudo-scientific experiment, the work can be interpreted as a precursor to social media “challenges” and related antics that were popular online in the 2010s.
John Wood and Paul Harrison have been working collaboratively since 1993, producing single screen and installation-based video works. Their work investigates the relationship between the human figure and architecture, developed through short form video with particular emphasis on actions being formulated and resolved within a given duration. Their artistic practice spans the use of the frame, minimal aesthetics, associations of everyday objects and low-tech visual tricks, the making of micro-trivial actions – whose results are invariably between obvious failure and random success.
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