New film from Magasin 3 on the screen in the Atrium

The impetus for this joint initiative is the desire to encompass and convey the distinctive experimental spirit and new ways of seeing represented by these films. Through this project, Magasin 3 hopes to communicate – together with SSE – their shared conviction that art is a form of expression that continues to grow and enrich all the while it is seen and challenged by new audiences in new situations.

Sam Taylor-Johnson (formerly Sam Taylor-Wood) is a photographer and filmmaker known for the use of religious iconography of the Renaissance and Baroque in her work. Exploring the boundaries between the sacred and the profane, she addresses the role of the individual in a culture obsessed with appearance and consumption. One of her best known works is a 107 minute long film of David Beckham sleeping, simply called David (2004).

In Brontosaurus (1995) we see a male nude dancing to what was, originally, a very fast techno soundtrack. Taylor-Johnson has slowed this footage down and replaced the original soundtrack with a piece of classical music (Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings from 1936). Accustomed as we are to seeing the female nude, the moving image of a naked man is less expected. The film represents a deliberate reversal of established gender stereotypes, and the strength of the reversal lies in its simplicity. As the man’s movements become drawn out and strange, they also become highly expressive. The work makes reference to classical themes of Renaissance art, such as mortiality and the fragility of the human body, but in a striking, controversial and contemporary manner.