Martin Creed
Work No. 850. 2008
Martin Creed, Katharine Stout
A runner will speed through Tate Britain’s dramatic neo-classical sculpture galleries, again and again, running as if their life depended on it, every day for the next four months. The tightly choreographed live performance Work No. 850 has been specially devised by Martin Creed for the Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2008 sponsored by Sotheby’s. Work No. 850 centres on a simple idea: that a person will sprint as fast as they can every 30 seconds through the 86 metre gallery at the heart of Tate Britain. Each run is followed by an equivalent pause, like a musical rest, during which the gallery is empty.