Atom Egoyan is one of the most successful independent filmmakers to emerge from Canada, and in addition to his award-winning films he has also directed for both opera and the stage, and created compelling lens-based installation art. Commissioned by Artangel, Steenbeckett, 2002, saw Egoyan transform a space in the former Museum of Man in London using excerpts of 35mm footage, and remains his most important installation work to date. Atom Egoyan: Steenbeckett is the first publication to explore this impressive work. Steenbeckett includes footage from Egoyan's film version of Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, which he had made for the project Beckett on Film, 2001. The film involves a haunted ageing man reviewing and reflecting upon self-made tape recordings he made earlier in life, and is played on a DVD in one room, whilst another room includes a jumbled collection of old furniture, cabinets and film equipment nostalgically evoking the history of film. The installation contemplates the nature of memory, and explores Egoyan's fascination with the obsolescence of technology, the divide of analogue/digital and changing contexts of presentation.The publication accompanies an exhibition of this important installation, and includes critical texts documenting and analysing the work, plus an extended interview with the artist.
Atom Egoyan: Steenbeckett provides a unique and interesting insight into the internationally renowned filmmaker and lens-based installation artist. Published in partnership with the MacKenzie Art Gallery and Strandline Curatorial Collective.