LIVERPOOL.- A huge, inflatable version of Felix the Cat is one of two installations by Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Leckey being displayed at the Walker Art Gallery as part of a new exhibition. ZOO LOGIC by Mark Leckey runnning until 26 February 2017.

The Birkenhead-born artist is known for his long-standing interest in moving image and broadcast technology, and specifically in Felix the Cat; a Felix doll on a gramophone turntable was the first picture to be transmitted on TV in America in 1928.

In addition to the ten-metre-high Inflatable Felix, the gallery display FEELINTHECAT, a 70th Anniversary Arts Council Collection commission. This major new installation invites visitors to enter a large dome, shaped to resemble Felix’s head.

Inside the dome, two screens play a looped film which shows Mark Leckey ‘transforming into Felix’, inspired by a photograph of a Disneyland cast-member in a Mickey Mouse costume. The shape of the dome acts as a giant speaker, amplifying the sound of the film to create an immersive experience.

On his interest in Felix the Cat, Mark Leckey said: "I liked that it was a two dimensional cartoon that became a three dimensional doll, that then became this electronic entity that got broadcast out into the ether. For me, Felix symbolises the way in which technology blends the real and virtual worlds.”

Leckey cites a performance lecture that he gave at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, titled ‘In the Long Tail’, as the starting point for his fascination with Felix. His lecture drew on an image he’d found on the internet of the cartoon feline, from which he discovered its origins as the first broadcast image.

Mark Leckey was born in 1964 in Birkenhead and graduated from Newcastle Polytechnic in 1990. He lives in London. He won the Turner Prize in 2008. His artwork includes sculpture, sound, video and performance. He is fascinated by the affective power of images, music, objects and technology. Notable works include Dream English Kid, 1964 – 1999 AD (2015) (exhibited at the Blade Factory as part of Liverpool Biennial 2016), Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999) and Made in ’Eaven (2004). Exhibitions include UNIADDDUMTHS, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Sant’Andrea de Scaphis, Rome, Italy (2016), This Kolossal Kat, that Massive MOG, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, UK (2016), Dream English Kid 1964 – 1999 AD, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, Germany (2016), Lending Enchantment to Vulgar Materials, Museo MADRE, Naples, Italy (2015) and WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium (curated by Elena Filipovic) (2014), On Pleasure Bent, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2013) and The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things, Hayward, UK, The Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, UK (2013).