Phat Free
- Artist: David Hammons
- Date: 1995, 1999
- Medium: Video, colour and sound (stereo)
- Dimensions: 5min, 20sec
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Phat Free” by David Hammons. It’s a short, 5‑minute, 20‑second video that captures a street performance Hammons staged in New York in 1995. At first you see a blank screen and hear a series of clanging, metallic sounds—those are the bucket’s impact on pavement. Then the footage reveals a man, from the back, kicking a metal bucket along a dimly lit street. The camera follows the rhythmic kicks, catching the bucket’s roll and the occasional splash of a puddle, while the city hum—traffic, distant voices—builds in the background. The performer is never fully seen, his face obscured, adding an air of mystery. The title plays on the phrase “fat‑free,” replacing “fat” with the African‑American slang “phat,” meaning cool or sexy, hinting at the rhythmic, almost musical quality of the sounds. “Phat Free” is Hammons’ only video work, originally shown at the 1997 Whitney Biennial.
See it in person
Phat Free is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
