1999 • wraptheworld
The work started in Glasgow with a 100ft piece of paper being fed into a fax machine dialled to Johannesburg, whilst Stephen Skrynka, Wilma Easton and I made marks on the moving paper. In Jo’burg, the output of the fax machine became the input to a second machine dialled to Delhi and the artists in Jo’burg adding their marks to those from Glasgow. The process was repeated around the world; in Sydney, New York and Porto, until it returned to Scotland forty minutes after beginning, where it emerged from a second fax machine.
A child picked up the still departing fax as well as the returning fax and became the human link in a work that wrapped the world.
The process was filmed live by the BBC and broadcast worldwide in their 2000 Today programme which had an estimated worldwide audience of 800 million people, with an audience of 12.6 million people on the BBC alone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Today
The art work was all returned to Scotland and became an exhibition at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art before being toured around Scotland as a travelling exhibition.
Glasgow
Artists: Neil Butler, Wilma Eaton and Stephen Skrynka
Johannesburg
Artists: Robin Rhode & Usha Prajapaat
Curator: Stephen Hobbs, The Market Theatre Galleries
Delhi
Artists: Subba Ghosh, Ranbir Singh Kaleka and Kalam Patua
Curators: Amit and Hardeep Gupta, Vis-à-vis Design Gallery
Sydney
Artist: Laurens Tan
Curators: Nicholas Tsoutas and Jacqueline Phillips, Artspace Gallery
New York
Artist: Jian-Jun Zhang
Curator: Christina Yang, The Kitchen
Technical Support: James Ratazzi, The Kitchen
Porto
Artist: Pedro Tudela
Curator: Miguel von Hafe Perez, Porto 2001
BBC Live coverage of Wrap the World