The 24th Biennial of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo, Bulgaria awarded myself and my partner and fellow artist Tom Cardew with the Golden Aesop Grand Prix in Contemporary Art for our very silly satirical film, Art to Artillery. The biennial is a high point in Gabrovo's calendar, a vibrant town located in the mountains of central Bulgaria, and includes not only the contemporary art exhibition at the Museum of Humour and Satire but also an amazing carnival that farcically comments on current affairs. The whole town gets involved in the production, organisation and enjoyment of the carnival, which lasts well into the night and culminates in a lavish firework display and concerts. It's a total blast. 

 

The film itself was produced in conjunction with Nowness, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey and Central Saint Martins. Together these partners commissioned three teams to each make a short film on the subject of 'Luxury and Sustainability'. Tom is a comedian and wanted to make an absurd comedy short, which the pairing of 'luxury' and 'sustainability' actually seemed to lend itself quite well to. Both of us use improv in our work, Tom for his comedy, and me in my Vernacular Spectacular videos, so we used improv to eventually develop the story of two morally bankrupt artist-designers whose foray into sustainable design slowly descends into the production of 'eco artillery'. You can watch the film in full below.

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Museum of Humour and Satire, Gabrovo

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17 May - 30 September 2019