Catalogue > Un extrait vidéo au hasard

A Chant for the Bees is a film about everyday events: a visit to a nearby copse by the creek, some goats at the farm, some young tennis players volleying and breathing heavily on a summer's day, a young family preparing to embark on a ferry, a visit to the seals at the aquarium, some amusement park rides, the neighbour’s cat on the front porch, a stroll past the supermarket on the high street, a view of some ships at harbour. The original music is composed by Alan Gasser. The libretto is based on a list of the 100 largest companies in the world from Fortune Magazine. It is sung as a Georgian Chant by Alan Gasser and Emma So.

Bill Burns comes from a bookselling family in Saskatchewan. He learned about art and tractors from monks, poets and farmers. He is artistic director of the Big Pond Small Fish Laboratory in Toronto. His works are included in collections at the Museum of Modern, New York; Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz; Tate Britain, London; the Getty Center, Los Angeles; Remai Modern, Saskatoon; and the Cabinet des estampes, Geneva. His published books and essays include When Pain Strikes, a scholarly anthology, (University of Minnesota Press, 1999: Minneapolis) ; Bird Radio, (Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Koenig and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, 2007: Berlin) ; The Guide to the Flora and Fauna Information Service:0.800.0FAUNA0FLORA, (Institute of Contemporary Arts, 2008: London, England) ; Three Books About Plants and Animals and War (Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Koenig 2011: Cologne). His two most recent books are Hans Ulrich Obrist Hear Us, a memoir about his life as an artist (Black Dog Publishing, 2016: London) and Bill Burns: Three Short Films and Some Happenings about Donkeys, Goats, Cowboys and Container Ships (Griffin Art Projects: 2023, Vancouver). He studied at Goldsmiths’ College, London (MA) and lives in the trees at Toronto.