Bamboat | Mitchell
HD Video Installation, Stereo + 5.1 surround, 32 mins, 2019
Music Composition and Sound Design by Richy Carey
Bugs and Beasts before the Law is an experimental film that explores the medieval practice of putting animals on trial. This history of colonial law-making forged political and sometimes profane relationships between humans and animals. Bamboat and Mitchell’s new essayistic work reimagines common perceptions of legal history and, in doing so, produces a world where past and present, fiction and non-fiction, human and animal fuse.
The music and sound design were created in tandem with the images, rather than in post, each informing the other as they were developed. The work was created remotely, with the directors based in Montreal and Berlin at the time, whilst I collaborated with musicians, opera singers and a scratch choir of improvisors in my own studio to compose the soundtrack.
Co-produced by Mercer Union and The Henry Art Gallery.