Tom, Tristan and Alex from Kotki Dwa in front of the work that inspired them. © Tate
A young indie band from Milton Keynes has won a major online competition organised by Tate calling for 16-24-year-olds to create music inspired by art from the Tate Collection.
The band, called Kotki Dwa, won the Tate Tracks competition with a track called Le Beau Charcutier inspired by Francis Picabia’s The Handsome Pork Butcher 1924-26. The painting is on display in the Poetry and Dream wing on Level 3 at Tate Modern.
The winning entry was selected from more than 200 tracks posted on MySpace by hopeful entrants. Members of the public cast over 2,500 votes online and the top 20 most popular tracks went before a panel of judges including Huw Stephens from Basement Jaxx, Lethal Bizzle, Graham Coxon and Roll Deep.
Kotki Dwa say of the work which inspired the track: “Le Beau Charcutier is so handsome but so sad. What a special effort he makes with himself. He would give anything to be your friend.”
The indie/electro/pop three piece have been together for two years and are made up of 21-year-old singer/songwriter Alex Ostrowski, his brother 17-year-old Tristan Ostrowski (bass, synth) both from Milton Keynes, and 21-year-old drummer Tom Walker from Buckinghamshire.
The winning track will be installed in the gallery on a listening post next to the work which inspired it from October 1 2007 and will be streamed on Tate’s website in November.
The Tate Tracks initiative is part of Tate Online’s ongoing creative and technical partnership with BT and the Tate Tracks website features a specially created interactive video format.
Entrants were invited to visit Tate Online in July and choose an art work from a selection on display at Tate Modern this autumn and then write a track in response.
Tate Modern also worked in partnership with MySpace to allow musicians to register entries via the MySpace player on their profile. The public then had until August 31 to vote for their favourite track at www.myspace.com/tategallery.
“The Your Tate Track competition demonstrates BT's innovative approach to working with Tate Online, not only to broaden access to the arts but also to provide creative ways to engage younger audiences via the internet,” said Paul Simon, head of sponsorship at BT.
Hear the winning track and find out more about Kotki Dwa at www.myspace.com/kotkidwa.
