Shimabuku
Shimabuku’s Fish and Chips, 2006
Neon sign + 8mm film and miniDV transfered to DVD
98 cm x 228 cm x 7.5 cm + 9 min 12 sec / colour /sound
Edition 5 / 5 + 2 AP
Further images
Fish and Potatoes, a meeting of the sea and the land. Fish & Chips signs are all over the place in English towns. To me, it's like the towns are...
Fish and Potatoes, a meeting of the sea and the land.
Fish & Chips signs are all over the place in English towns.
To me, it's like the towns are brimming with simple and beautiful poetry.
One day I wanted to make my own version of Fish & Chips.
So, in Liverpool, I made a film about a potato swimming to meet a fish.
Filmed underwater, Shimabuku’s Fish and Chips presents an unorthodox encounter between a sea-dwelling potato and a fish. First presented on the occasion of and in collaboration with the 2006 Liverpool Biennial, this playful re-imagining of Britain’s staple dish develops into a meditative and visually seductive film. Inspired by the ubiquitous neon signs outside fish and chips shops throughout Britain, Shimabuku reconsiders the rare possibility of these distinctive ingredients interacting with one another before deep fat fryers are introduced. For the artist, the words “Fish & Chips” function like a poem, “because there, I see a surrealistic encounter between potato from ground and fish from water.” Going farther than a simple presentation of the sheer oddity and paradox of throwing a potato “back” into the sea as if it were a life-form caught on a fishing line, the film pushes us to take a step back, and reflect, on the inherent romanticism found within local traditions, as well as the most basic elements of daily life.
Fish & Chips signs are all over the place in English towns.
To me, it's like the towns are brimming with simple and beautiful poetry.
One day I wanted to make my own version of Fish & Chips.
So, in Liverpool, I made a film about a potato swimming to meet a fish.
Filmed underwater, Shimabuku’s Fish and Chips presents an unorthodox encounter between a sea-dwelling potato and a fish. First presented on the occasion of and in collaboration with the 2006 Liverpool Biennial, this playful re-imagining of Britain’s staple dish develops into a meditative and visually seductive film. Inspired by the ubiquitous neon signs outside fish and chips shops throughout Britain, Shimabuku reconsiders the rare possibility of these distinctive ingredients interacting with one another before deep fat fryers are introduced. For the artist, the words “Fish & Chips” function like a poem, “because there, I see a surrealistic encounter between potato from ground and fish from water.” Going farther than a simple presentation of the sheer oddity and paradox of throwing a potato “back” into the sea as if it were a life-form caught on a fishing line, the film pushes us to take a step back, and reflect, on the inherent romanticism found within local traditions, as well as the most basic elements of daily life.