The Tate takes on gallery sprinters

LONDON (Reuters) - A runner will sprint through a gallery every 30 seconds for the next four months in the latest art installation by artist Martin Creed.

The installation, called "Work No. 850", is sponsored by Sotheby's and goes on show on Tuesday in the 86-metre neoclassical sculpture galleries of Tate Britain.

Creed, who won the coveted Turner Prize in 2001 with an installation that was a light bulb going on and off in an empty room, explained in a statement: "I like running."

"Running is the opposite of being still. If you think about death as being completely still and movement as a sign of life, then the fastest movement possible is the biggest sign of life. So then running fast is like the exact opposite of death: it's an example of aliveness."

Tate Britain director Stephen Deuchar called the work "compelling, simple and lyrical".

"It upsets any preconceived ideas of how to move appropriately through an art space," he added.

Creed said he got his idea for the work from a trip he made to the catacombs of the Capuchin monks in Palermo, Sicily.

Arriving at the crypt just before closing time, Creed had just five minutes to see the museum and was forced to run around the space in order to see as much as possible.

On its Web site, Tate Britain warns visitors: "For reasons of safety, we ask the public not to run or obstruct the runners."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; editing by Keith Weir)

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