Instigated alongside the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, a global grouping of 80 international artists presents videos that together produce one complete work, a celebration of image diversity and unknown connections.

Conceived and produced by the artists Peter Lloyd Lewis (UK) and Natasha Makowski (USA), the sneeze 80 x 80 includes artists representing 29 countries and five continents. Applying a new equation to art synthesis and artist collaboration, this project pays homage to Thomas Edison’s innovative kinograph film of a sneeze, a random and connective act.

Acknowledging both the importance of the event in moving image history and - considering the idea of its experimental reference - the project explores the relationship between video art and feature film. It highlights the connections being made between artists and their work through the questioning of hierarchies, the exploration of narrative and the creative use of time structure.

The random programme allows for only one showing of each piece of 80 second footage in each presentation and an infinite interpretation of the various juxtapositions. the sneeze 80 x 80 allows ideas to clash and provokes re-readings of the individual and collective work’s content; through the placing of the work, expectations are perpetually confounded.

the sneeze 80 x 80 runs at the Durban Art Gallery from November 8 to January 6, 2008. More information from the Durban Art Gallery on 031 311 2264.