Michael Snow
DVD projection (colour, silent)
Three sheep in a field by the ocean slowly munch their way in a single file towards the left. On reaching the edge of the camera frame, they turn and head right in a fifteen-minute organic loop.
The sheep performance resembles the characteristic ambling -- from good spot to good spot -- of visitors to an art gallery, and the image recalls pastoral paintings of the English 19th century, so familiar to gallery-goers.
Projected on the dome of The Planetarium, you may think of night-lights and counting sheep.
Counting Sheep is an adaptation formatted for Nuit Blanche from the video installation Sheeploop, initially shown at White Box, New York (2001) and most recently at the Whitney Biennial, New York (2006).
Michael Snow makes films, film and video installations, photographic and holographic works, sculpture, sound installations, music, paintings, drawings and books. His works have been presented world-wide in festivals and exhibitions, and are in the collections of Musée National d'Art Moderne (Paris), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Museum of Modern Art (New York), and many others. Snow lives and works in Toronto and is a member of the Order of Canada (1982) and a recipient of the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2000).
In association with the Institute for Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Image: Video still from Michael Snow's Sheeploop
Map location 9
Royal Ontario Museum, dome of The Planetarium (south end of the ROM at 100 Queen's Park)
