The Decorative Potential of Blazing Factories

“The Decorative Potential of Blazing factories.” More than thirty years since it was conceived this unique story features the quest of artist and politician as they fight for media attention and artistic fulfilment.

The politician stages military manoeuvres, casts a vast fireplace for a handshake, lands a jet on the lawn and other stunts for meaningful impact. The artist sets fire to a factory, reinvents fashion and changes her enormous dress continually. Their quest for attention is continually thwarted however by the committee, the committee for the environment, for health and safety for artistic merit, and for political correctness.

Amidst smoke, vermilion red paint, girders, an industrial ballet and a concrete fireplace, the committee raises challenging questions: Is it valid to set fire to a factory for art? At what temperature does the cement in concrete begin to dehydrate? Is a high viz jacketed builder performing a pirouette on the top of a crane - safe?

But, what do these questions matter when the artist has sold her painting for one point two five trillion dollars and the politician has made an inappropriate gesture and started a new world conflict.

  • Gary Chitty
    Director
  • Bruce McLean
    Director
  • Gary Chitty
    Writer
  • Bruce McLean
    Writer
  • Gary Chitty
    Producer
  • Nigel Barber
    Key Cast
    "Narrator"
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 1 minute 17 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 16, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    17,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Coronet Theatre summer season
    London, United Kingdom
    United Kingdom
    June 18, 2019
    World premiere
Distribution Information
  • None
Director Biography - Gary Chitty, Bruce McLean

Gary Chitty is a film maker and artist. Working as a performance artist in the 1970’s he staged two works that examined absurd behaviour in “Lawn” and “A Military man with a Hat” at Battersea Arts Centre, London.

Chitty's film production company Razor Productions has made films that have launched leading household brand names, new products, a TV station and told corporate stories for large multinational companies. Razor's films have been shot all over the globe and have won more than thirty international awards; at The World Media Festival, The New York Film Festival, the US International Film and Video Festival and the IVCA.

Bruce McLean is an action sculptor, filmmaker and painter. McLean first came to prominence in the 60s as a notable rebel against the formalist academicism of his teachers, including Anthony Caro and Phillip King. In 1965 he abandoned conventional studio production in favour of impermanent sculptures using materials such as water, along with performances of a generally satirical nature directed against the art world. In 1972 he staged a 'retrospective' at The Tate Gallery, titled "King for a Day" and which lasted only one day. McLean has exhibited widely across the globe, including one-man exhibitions at The Modern Art Gallery, Vienna, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, MOMA, Oxford, Arnolfini, Bristol and GOMA, Brisbane and numerous important group exhibitions, including The Tate’s Conceptual Art in Britain 1964 – 1979. Urban Turban, a three screen projection was premiered at the NFT 1997.

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