Every year,
Tate Britain in London invites an artist to create a Christmas tree for the gallery and this year, Tate has commissioned conceptual artist Giorgio Sadotti to do the honours.
Sadotti was born in Manchester in 1955 and currently lives and works in London. As a conceptual artist, his work includes instances of sculpture, sound, performance, collage and photography, with his work having been exhibited around the world at institutions such as Tate Modern in London, PS1 MoMA in New York, Kunsthalle in Vienna and The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.
The work created at Tate Britain this winter is entitled Flower Ssnake, which consists of a Norwegian Spruce displayed in the gallery's neoclassical rotunda, without decoration. At the bottom of the plain tree lies a bull whip, coiled up under the branches.
The tree will remain naked in the gallery until the twelfth night of Christmas, when a one off performance will illuminate the tree to celebrate the end of the festive period. The performance will take place on the 5th of January at 7pm.
