William Hunt

Artist 

William Hunt's performance, Earth, Wind and Fire, was shown at the Westwerk Gallery in 2007 as part of the Art and Climate Change exhibitoin series in Hamburg. For this exciting new commission William employed garden patio furniture; the patio heater, water butt, washing line and decking, creating a situation in which the body is at the mercy of earth, wind and fire. The work was also shown at Cape Farewell's Late Night Friday at Whitechapel - a night of new songs, performances, artworks and information prompted by the urgency of climate change.

William's endurance related performances involve a degree of musical performativity played out under some situation of physical duress; hanging upside down, spinning on a turntable and most recently under water.

Put Your Foot Down, 2006, saw a black BMW turned into a make shift aquarium. William filled the car with water, climbed into the driver's seat and taking deep gulps from an oxygen tank and sang out on exhalation.

Narrative, set up through song is frustrated by physical restraints, evoking feelings of threat, danger and self-destruction. Hunt places himself at the centre of a sculptural tableaux and enacts a relentless, endless return to absurdity, mindful of the futility of grand gestures yet bound to show off.

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