Film and photography which responds to televised sport may sound like a fittingly post-modern mishmash of media. But the Commonwealth Games is looming, and the hula-hoop of hype is starting its spin with the dubious tagline 'eyes of the world upon us' becoming ubiquitous. So it seems beneficial happenstance to be hosting a show of work which picks up on the thrills and spills of 'the spectacle'.
Of course, the Romans, and later the French, had perfected the spectacle of social, public events, each in their inimitable ways. Still, neither empire had TV, nor the subsequent technology of multiple camera angles and stats, or even those superfluous yet overpaid pundits. So, in part, this show grapples with the modern representation of sport on TV inasmuch as it provides us with some, albeit odd, freeze-frames of that which normally passes by in a heady blur, despite endless slow-mo replays.
Can TV as a medium present sport effectively? Could the atmosphere provided by the track or poolside gun mic equal the ambient overkill of being in the midst of the chanting, jeering, Mexican-waving mass? I doubt it. After all, television is a vastly overrated medium. Nevertheless, here are some works by a fistful of artists that at least begin to touch upon some of those questions among others.
Tracey Moffat has highlighted athletes who've finished fourth (and so, just off the rostrum). Despite being overshadowed, they 'stand out' from the crowd by virtue of appearing in colour in an otherwise black-and-white world. Other participants vying for your undivided attention include Julie Henry's take on a kind of alternative Commonwealth Games (i.e. pub games), and Mark Lewis' images of grass-roots gaming in the concrete jungles of Britain.
Spectator Sport, Cornerhouse, from May 11.