A high-rise flat in the U.K. Midlands. Ray is the father who drinks, Liz the mother, Jason the brother. There are some animals and the brother kills flies. The older brother films them with his handycam - intently observing whatever is going on.
In 1996 Richard Billingham’s ‘Ray’s a Laugh’ was hailed as the photo book of the decade. His photographs were one of the talking points of ‘Sensation’. Billingham has now made ‘Fishtank’, a commission for television by Artangel in collaboration with film-maker Adam Curtis and Illuminations TV for BBC2’s acclaimed TV series. The ‘video verite’ of Fishtank is contained within the compressed space/fishtank of the flat. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they argue. Billingham’s film registers the emotional temperature of this space and the family who live there with a closeness that transcends camera conventions. Like the paintings of Lucian Freud, Billingham crafts a terrible beauty from the landscape of family life and its patterns of pathos, despair and hope.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
B1000151
Language
English
Audience classifications
MA
Mediatheque - not for children (ACMI classified)
unclassified
Subject category
Digital Art
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Object Types
Artwork
Materials
Single channel moving image, colour and audio
Holdings
VHS [PAL]; Copy
SP Betacam; Master
MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - presentation
Digital Betacam [PAL]; Sub-master
VHS [PAL]; Reference - timecoded