13: Arnfield / Gibson / Clark / Lertxundi / Sharits

27 March, 2016 - 13:30
Sphinx

 

 

SELECTION 2016

A dialogue between new audiovisual works, older or rediscovered films and videos by artists and filmmakers who work in the expanded field of moving image practice.

_______________

Musical and mysterious.
Five evocative films on scores,
abstraction and bodily processes.

 

Sitting in Darkness

Graeme Arnfield
,
UK
,
2015
,
HD
,
15'

“Out of the darkness a sound emerges. It echoes and drones. Terrified people take to the streets in search of its source. They get their cameras out and document the sky, searching for an author. We watch on, sitting in darkness, our muscles contract and our pupils dilate. “I hope the camera picks this up”. Sitting in Darkness explores the circulation, spectatorship and undeclared politics of contemporary images.” (GA)

Crippled Symmetries

Beatrice Gibson
,
UK
,
2015
,
HD
,
25'

“Inspired obliquely by William Gaddis’ epic satirical novel JR (1975), Crippled Symmetries draws many of its elements, including its soundtrack and cast, from a four-day experimental music workshop conceived and run by Gibson and composer Anton Lukoszevieze, and staged at an adventure playground in east London. The resulting film is an exploration of abstraction in music and finance from the psychedelic perspective of youth. Narrated by a banker, playing a fictionalised version of himself, the film stages a series of scenes derived partly from Gaddis' narrative and partly from the production process itself: a composer and a banker meet to discuss fiction; a class of 11 year olds pay a visit to the motorway beneath the NYSE exchange date centre in Essex; an illicit meeting at an abandoned fairground ends in spiritual death.” (BG)

Palms

Mary Helena Clark
,
US, CA
,
2015
,
HD
,
8'

Palms, a film constructed in four parts, each moving further away from a human subjectivity. Alluding to a state of disembodiment, the film’s images arrive like thoughts. In this way, Palms skirts an expected relationship with its subjects, encountering them as both agents of and extractions from the real world. Here our vision is monocular, collapsing figure and ground.

Vivir para vivir / Live to Live

Laida Lertxundi
,
US, ES
,
2015
,
16mm
,
11'

“A certain trajectory of being lost is drawn across sparsely populated mountain regions while physical processes from heartbeat to orgasm shape image, sound and color patterns until the horizon is reached.” (LL)

With original sounds and music by Ezra Buchla, Albert Ortega, Laura Steenberge and Tashi Wada.

Ray Gun Virus

Paul Sharits
,
US
,
1966
,
16mm
,
14'

Although affirming projector, projection beam, screen, emulsion, film frame, structure, etc., this is not an ‘abstract film’. “projector as pistol/time-coloured pills/yes-no/mental suicide & then rebirth as self-projection (sound: full volume, full bass).” (PS)