England and Poland (Erasure)

2005, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, UK
Commissioned by Angel Row Gallery for The Animators
10 mins Colour DVD

Recently, Vong Phaophanit has started to make animations with his longtime collaborator Claire Oboussier, an example of which they are exhibiting for the first time in The Animators. Their animation England and Poland (2005) also involves the process of extraction. They have taken a televised football match and digitally removed the object at the centre of the activity – the football. It has become a game of ‘spot the ball’, and a ballet emerges in which the players seem entranced and strangely liberated.

Watching England and Poland, my gaze constantly drifts away from the television on which this animation is being played. The loss of the ball as centre of attention seems to cause my eyes to wander away from the action. After a short while, I no longer hear the commentary and I have lost my focus. Here, too, I experience a state of reverie and stillness amongst all the movement. –

Exhibition curator, Angela Kingston.

(Extract from exhibition catalogue – The Animators. Angel Row Gallery 2006 ISBN 0 905634 76 4)