Skip navigation

Main menu

  • What's on
  • Art & Artists
    • The Collection
      Artists
      Artworks
      Art by theme
      Media
      Videos
      Podcasts
      Short articles
      Learning
      Schools
      Art Terms
      Tate Research
      Art Making
      Create like an artist
      Kids art activities
      Tate Draw game
  • Visit
  • Shop
Become a Member
  • DISCOVER ART
  • ARTISTS A-Z
  • ARTWORK SEARCH
  • ART BY THEME
  • VIDEOS
  • ART TERMS
  • SCHOOLS
  • TATE KIDS
  • RESEARCH
  • Tate Britain
    Tate Britain Free admission
  • Tate Modern
    Tate Modern Free admission
  • Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
    Tate Liverpool + RIBA North Free admission
  • Tate St Ives
    Tate St Ives Ticket or membership card required
  • FAMILIES
  • ACCESSIBILITY
  • SCHOOLS
  • PRIVATE TOURS
Tate Logo
Become a Member
Tate Modern Film

Ericka Beckman: We Imitate, We Break up

28 September 2013 at 15.00–16.00
Ericka Beckman, You The Better 1983 Film still

Ericka Beckman, You The Better 1983Film still

Courtesy of the artist

 You the Better USA 1983, 16 mm, 30 min

We Imitate; We Break up USA 1978, Super 8 transferred to 16 mm, 30 min

 This introductory screening will feature two early ‘image-game’ films by Ericka Beckman. You The Better 1983 features Ashley Bickerton among a team of uniformed players who take on ‘House’ in casino games resembling roulette or the rolling dice game, ‘craps’. These competitive activities, motivated by a desire for wealth and based on the rules of chance, are played out on courts designed on the repetitious forms of suburban sprawl, dark claustrophobic spaces that emphasise quotidian anxiety. We Imitate, We Break Up 1978, the first in the ‘Piaget trilogy’, is an earlier work based on the game of mirroring through images. Here a character played by the artist tries to reproduce the movements of a constructed puppet ‘Mario’, playing out the confrontation of the ‘real’ body with the ‘constructed’ one. Beckman said at the time of producing the film, she realised both bodies, the real and its image, ‘had to remain apart working in tandem as a relationship, thus their meaning now included competition and cooperation.’ The title refers to the process when the game of mirroring or mimicking becomes overpowering; games as psychological as they are physical.

 Programme duration 60 min

Tate Modern

Starr Cinema

Bankside
London SE1 9TG
Plan your visit

Date & Time

28 September 2013 at 15.00–16.00

Find out more

  • Ericka Beckman

Artwork
Close

Join in

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Sign up to emails

Sign up to emails

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tate’s privacy policy

About

  • About us
  • Our collection
  • Terms and copyright
  • Governance
  • Picture library
  • ARTIST ROOMS
  • Tate Kids

Support

  • Tate Collective
  • Members
  • Patrons
  • Donate
  • Corporate
  • My account
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Contact
© The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery, 2025
All rights reserved