With his experimental films, the Berlin based filmmaker Björn Speidel explores the relationship between image and imaging surface. For several years, he has investigated the image’s depth by the use of stereo 3D.
The screening will include the first presentation of the „Video-Harp“ as a world premiere. … read more
Gabriele Stellbaum creates art films that are performance and story-based at the same time. It is the second time, the artist presents her work at Directors Lounge. Coming from sculpture, she turned to light projections and time-based multi-channel slide projects and finally to video. The program presents a number of very new and more recent works that she created in Berlin. … read more
Directors Lounge Screening Laurence Favre Digging the Archive Thursday, 27 September 2018 21:00 Z-Bar Bergstraße 2 10115 Berlin-Mitte
Laurence Favre from Switzerland and living in Berlin, works with photography, film and video on projects. She creates narratives concerned with collective and individual memories, and how they relate to archives or individuals. Found material, 8mm found footage, was a reason for her to visit places, talk to and interview people. In the case of a hospital in South-Africa, a Swiss mission during the time of racial segregation, the construction of a collective memory become problematic, however, the collection of different stories and divert personal memories may become even more important. The box with films from a missionary working at the hospital, a personal archive in itself, for Favre became a starting point to visit the former hospital in Shiluvane, to find people who were working in the mission or share memories.
Favre’s background in sociology informs her research, her art project shifts towards contemporary ethnographic research with experimental forms that do not attempt to construct an “objective reality”. And she is a member of Labor Berlin. On a first step, she converted the original 8mm films to digital, and created a narrative from it, by repeating images, inverting them, by mixing letters found in real archives with personal comments she writes, in a way her subjective version of the archive. During her first visit, she also collected interviews with local people who used to work at the mission.
And she shoots 16mm (non-sync, in color and in b/w) for her new project: A series of portraits mixed with passages of landscape and combined with fictive letters to the late doctor of the mission by former members of the mission who live in South Afrika. At this screening, Laurence will present “Nwa-Mankamana” the film from 2013, an edited reel called “Shiluvane Talks” and excerpts of “Lettres au Docteur L” as work-in-progress.
The artist will talk about the different facets of working with archives that she became engaged in, and she is looking forward to discuss her work.
CONTEMPORARY ART RUHR, MEDIA ART FAIR, 1 – 3 JUNE 2018
IN AN ALIEN LAND by Angela Christlieb and Maria Niro
Montages reveal a journey over time and space, as the film builds to evoke a hovering state of hallucinogenic like pictures of the subconscious. The protagonist, moving simultaneously between space and time, is at once in an imaginary dream and at other times in a state of reality. The camera, both observational and voyeuristic, follows her on her journey as she crosses waters. We are lulled into a dream state by the film’s lush colors and its Super-8 film like quality. Then the story pivots as architecture and landscape become actors and interact with one another, the protagonist makes it to her final destination; New York City in the midst of a political crisis. Turmoil has overtaken the beautiful landscape and we are at once awakened into reality. The film is accompanied by a sound collage consisting of a minimalist musical element which build with electronic noise, fragments of shortwave radio, and then live sound of human protests. The film is a collaboration between filmmaker and artist Angela Christlieb based in Vienna and who also stars in the film, and the New York artist, filmmaker, cinematographer Maria Niro. The concept came about during Christlieb’s visit in New York in the fall of 2016, during the presidential elections in the USA.
IN AN ALIEN LAND will be screened as part of the DL program at the contemporary art ruhr video lounge presented by Directors Lounge.
Find the complete program soon here.
Credits: Angela Christlieb and Maria Niro, Directors, producers, editors and sound design | Soundtracks: Hallicrafters (Eric Hubel, Algis Kysz), Chris Janka. “Secretly sharing the landscape of the living” by Martin A. Smith.
CONTEMPORARY ART RUHR, MEDIA ART FAIR, 1 – 3 JUNE 2018
“Magnetic Mirror” by Storyboard Artist Isabelle Meyrignac
Isabelle is a qualified, multi-skilled camera operator, Storyboard Artist and video editor. She studied classical hand-drawn illustration, 2D animation and Comic Strip design at Ecole Emile Cohl in Lyon, France, before starting her career in 1999 working as a creative in the advertising industry in London. She taught herself camera operation and video editing since then as well. She then went to the MET film school Berlin in order to further her camera and editing skills. Isabelle is now working as a full-time freelancer in the film and TV industry, bringing all her accumulated skills and life experience together.
Furthermore, her fluency in English, French and German allows her to work efficiently across borders. Her problem-solving and astute communication skills compliment her technical and creative abilities.
Isabelle’s physical fitness and can-do-attitude make her an outstanding camera crew member who can also take a video project from concept to finish.
Her current exhibition at the Contemporary Art Ruhr is an extract of her storyboard for future TV mini-series ‘Magnetic Mirror’.
Isabelle Meyrignac’s storyboard series will be shown at the contemporary art ruhr, media art fair presented by Directors Lounge.
More info about Directors Lounge at the contemporary art ruhr soon here.
Program II: Friday, April 20, 8:00 pm – 10.00 pm and beyond Fata Morgana Gallery
Here, DL will be doing a double-dig into its box of flickering tricks, with a program of shorts from both the Berlin International Directors Lounge Festival as well as the Urban Research side of things. There will be new projections as well, including, rumour has it, a mad monkey and film art that literally leaps into the room. Saying more would be telling…. Performers of the night include Tristan Honsinger (cello), Izumi Ose (melodion), Moeko Yamazaki (taiko drum) and the very odd Woody Hoofer (indescribable).
Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr and Kenton Turk
Andreas Gogol, Xarussel, 2017, DE, 7:02 Angela Christlieb, Dein Falsches Spiel, 2017, DE, 3:13 Cecelia Chapman, Knuckleshop, 2014 USA, 00:58 Bernd Luetzeler, Untitled, 2017, DE, 8:32 Petra Lottje, Blinde Flecken, 2018, DE, 3:56 Gabriele Stellbaum, Close Huddle, 2017, DE, 4:30 Henry Gwiazda, Knowledge, 2017, USA, 3:05 Verena Kyselka, Omani Songbook, 2016, DE, 13:18 Eric Stewart, Helios, 2018, USA, 5:01
Max Sacker (DT) Belle de Lyon, 10:00, 2012 Jimmy Grima (MT) L-Iblah (The Fool) 10:00 2013 Oded Arad (IL) Bartholomew, 09:08, 2012 Karl F. Stewart (DT/US) Animaux Découpages, 04:33, 2012 Hiroki Mano (JP) Spiritual Meetin’, 05:26, 2016
Performance with Tristan Honsinger (cello), Moeko Yamazaki (taiko drum), Izumi Ose (melodion) and Woody Hoofer.
“an abstraction of moving reality – I filmed with b&w super8 and Mini DV at the Berlin Alexanderplatz x-mas fairground … later I discovered shots of the birds from the 16mm Found Footage studies … a friend gave me exposed & expired color super8 material – during the editing process arose a new form and cinematic image structure with different levels of perception & realities – what I see is not what I hear.” Andreas Gogol
Angela Christlieb (DE) Dein Falsches Spiel, 2017, 3:13
Music video mit Christian Wirlitsch
Cecelia Chapman (US) Knuckleshop, 2014, 00:58
Knuckleshop is adapted from the mystery envelope of elevator diagrams and schematic sex sketches of Jeff Crouch. Mr.E series 2008, music: Christa Hunter.
Bernd Luetzeler (DE) Untitled, 2017, 8:32
Things galore. Shopping galore. Profits galore. Bangalore! The streetscape of every Indian city and town is – apart from crowds and vehicles – mainly dominated by products. The bazaar is no longer limited to a certain square or building, it expands into all other parts of the city and claims a large percentage of the available public space.
Petra Lottje (DE) Blinde Flecken, 2018, 3:56
Dieser Kurzfilm basiert auf dem deutschen Dokumentarfilm “Die Kinder sind tot” (2003). Es geht um den Fall einer Frau, die im Sommer 1999 ihre beiden Kleinkinder tagelang in der Wohnung zurückließ, wo sie verdursteten. Ich wähle prägnante Sätze aus dem Film, löse sie vom Bild und spreche sie mit einem Schauspieler nach.
Gabriele Stellbaum (DE) Close Huddle, 2017, 4:30
What Close Huddle depicts, is a highly uncanny setting, in which we encounter mind control not as a dystopian fiction but as actualized nature, as a distinct futurity, inscribed in our every day experience of the contemporary.
Henry Gwiazda (US) Knowledge, 2017, 3:05
My work is about the choreography of reality. It’s about the way everything moves and is interconnected to create beauty. Each small, choreographed scene can be appreciated for itself, but on subsequent viewings, takes on a separate meaning. They become metaphors for our lives, our dreams and ourselves.
Verena Kyselka (DE) Omani Songbook, 2016, 13:18
Traditional Omani songs reflect desires, longings, landscape and the life in it. Emotions which seem quickly lost in a rapidly evolving society. These feelings are visualized in video collages
Eric Stewart (US) Helios, 2018, 5:01
Whispering to plants with motors and oscillators
Max Sacker (DT) Belle de Lyon, 10:00, 2012 For anyone that loves sex, dreams and the French New Wave. 1960s France. Inspired by the writings of the marquis de sade, young Séverine (Valeria Piskounova) betrays her controlling husband with a small-time street gangster. (Nikolai Kinski) An act of passion? Or is there something sinister at play?
Oded Arad (IL) Bartholomew, 09:08, 2012
Karl F. Stewart (DT/US) Animaux Découpages, 04:33, 2012
Often times the personality of an animal extends only to the dining room table as a roasted chicken or a grilled steak. And though we are fairly understanding of cats and dogs, we frequently lose touch with the complexities of other domesticated animals. Animaux Découpages are portraits of common farm animals. It’s a look at their perceived personality through a photograph. Why would I want to be a Cow . Why would I want to be a cow … Why would I want to be a cow … They heat you … They eat … Why would I wan to be a cow … I came into this world all big eyed … Now I’m big all around .would I want to be a cow … Why would I want to be a cow … They heat you … They eat you ….
Jimmy Grima (MT) L-Iblah (The Fool) 10:00 2013
This film revisits the timeless phenomenon of a man falling in love with a woman. Just as a block of cement sits by the sea, one witnesses a quasi-dreamlike sequence of images that are intentionally placed on that fine line where reality borders with surreality. This is a story innocently echoing the island’s [Malta’s] way of resolving its dormant, winter season with its spirited, eclectic summer festivities.
Hiroki Mano | JP | Spiritual Meetin’ | 05:26 | 2016 A mad monkey and film art that literally leaps into the room
photo: Moeko Yamazaki by Ko Zushi (Ko Zushi Photography)
Program I: Friday, April 20, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm at Z-Bar
Ao lado dela, do lado de lá (In the other side, by her side) curated by Elaine Tedesco is a proposal coming from Brazil, that presents contemporary videos of women artists.
The program shows a whole of interests: the city, urban issues, the arts circuit, performance, social problems, speeches and their forms, feminism, audiovisual language, memory, selfimage, daydreaming, etc. For these artists the video is, each with its poetics, one of the media adopted to create their artwork, but not the only one.
The urban space that seems to be the background to most of the videos presented is much more than that, it is the Vortex of these artists’ productions – here as the spinning movement between the urban experience and the personal imaginary space that creates “other places”. In the routine of large metropolises, public spaces become, increasingly, places of passage, and the borders between public and private gradually become more blurred. It should not be forgotten, however, that these spaces of passage have long since become, in a special way, private spaces, among many others, for the homeless, the street sellers, or the performers.
In the other side, by her side is organized in four interpenetrating axes: videos that are vectors of other works; daily records; videoperformances; and fictions.
DL at Mitte Media Festival: In the other side, by her side
Tula Anagnostopoulos – The red carpet, 2017 Rochelle Costi “Negócios à parte”, 2017 Lucia Koch – Yamanaka-san, 2010 Marina Camargo – Brasil, extrativismo (Brazil. Extractivism), 2017 Sandra Becker– Roundtrip , 2017 Marion Velasco– INSTANT BAND, pero esto no es Música. Espanha, 2015/Brasil, 2016 Andressa Cantergiani– Como matar um artista (How to kill one artist), 2017 Viviane Gueller– Camburi (Série Interlúdio) (Interlude series), 2016 Deni Corsino– Faixacorpo, 2017 Lu Rabello – Selfie, 2017 Amanda Teixeira – Changing Rooms, 2017 Dani Amorim – Através (Over), 2017 Natalia Schul – Em pedaços (In slices), 2017 Camila Leichter – Ensaio a pedra (The stone essay), 06 December 2015 – 16 August 2016 Ananda Aliardi – O que tocamos, o que nos toca (What we touch, what touches us), 2017 Daniela Távora and Itapa Rodrigues – Quem vai ser o rato do século XXI (Who will be the mouse of the 21st century), 2017 Ana Paula Pollock – Crise (Crisis), 2017 Samy Sfoggia – Aféfé Ikú, 2017
About the videos:
AMANDA TEIXEIRA Changing Rooms, 4’45" (2017) Looking for a place to live in Munich I wrote for more than 100 landlords, I received eight answers, and I visited 3 apartments. How can a house become a home?
ANDRESSA CANTERGIANI Como matar um artista (How to kill one artist), 8′ (2017) From the questions how to kill one artist, how to kill the public and how to kill the work, I perform one action in the middle of the traffic in Porto Alegre, Brazil and Berlin. The video intent a urban analogy about the differences and connections involving the two cities and the artist attitude in relation to authorship and participation in the art system.
ANA PAULA CUNHA CRISE (CRISIS), 3’13" (2017) Living a crisis and experiencing a pulsion that creates new signs from a encounter. Crisis is the chaos of the becoming-world: it paints pink upon pink in order to become itself imperceptible in constant contemporary vigilance.
ANANDA ALIARDI O que tocamos, o que nos toca (What we touch, what touches us), 3’57″ (2017) Ineluctable, but it is the split that separates within us what we feel from what touches us: insult is also impulse. The video brings reproductions and reactions to what women instrumentalists hear from men about their competences.
CAMILA LEICHTER Ensaio a pedra (The stone essay), 8’17″ (06 December 2015 – 16 August 2016) Synopsis: I found in Samuel Beckett’s Molloy (1947) one language proposition about a image thought to be transformed into action: before the unspeakable of experience, suck the same four stones in succession.
DANI AMORIM Através (Over), 4’7″ (2017) Over it is a reflection about the self-identity and how we offer ourselves be seen by the other. A visual metaphor of resisting and allowing look through our surface, into the real self, without shields.
DANIELA TÁVORA and ITAPA RODRIGUES Quem vai ser o rato do século XXI (Who will be the mouse of the 21st century), 2’53″ (2017) “A white horse, without ensiles and without reins, graze in the middle of a road, whoever who rides the animal will be taken to a garden of paradise, and when he comes down, his feet will be crossed by thorns hidden in the grass”; The record was held at Vila Cruzeiro in Porto Alegre, Brazil, a neighborhood that has become a endless construction site, since the city hall began to open a new avenue where the houses of the first residents remained.
DENI CORSINO Faixacorpo, 1’45″ (2017) Faixacorpo associetes urban space issues and the performance attitude in order to raise a critical view about the contemporary city, full of buildings and big avenues that doesn’t have restores spaces for the citzens. Moving with my own security strip, I can choose my path, to stay, to live, to be present and to occupy the urban space.
LU RABELLO Selfie, 3’19 ‘’ (2017) Selfie in cross point and comments about the work.
LUCIA KOCH Yamanaka-san, 5’45″ (2010) Synopsis: In a kimonos fabric store, a saleswoman displays some fabrics, demonstrating their qualities, their weight, trim, color and luster, volumes and folds. But in these fabrics there are no figures of birds or flowers, no pattern printed. They seems too simple, except for the colors bending over each other. The continuous gradient transition “breaks” as the saleswoman moves the fabrics. She also seems to be exploring this material, trying to discover her possibilities to sensitize the customer. The video was made for the Wave project (Choja Machi, Aichi Trienale, 2010, Nagoya, Japan).
MARINA CAMARGO Brasil, extrativismo (Brazil. Extractivism), 10’14" (2017) The action of erase a Brazil school map is recorded on video. The title of the map gives the name to the work, while, at the same time, along with the gesture of erasing these regions of the map it refers to one important ecological issue related to the current public policies of the country.
MARION VELASCO INSTANT BAND, pero esto no es Música. Espanha, 2015/Brasil, 9´36″, 2016. Performance by Marion Velasco (BRA) in collaboration with Seth Rossano (MEX) on bass and Carlos Llavata (ESP) on clarinet. Images by Marion Velasco and Verónica Hernández Menchara (MEX), sound capture by Miguel Molina Alarcón (ESP).
INSTANT BAND deals with the snapshot, the immediate, the transient, the passing. The format refers to the street music, to the instant bands that, in general, are configured and present themselves in the urban space for an audience, also, dynamic. Throwing glass bottles at the collector for recycling is a noisy and everyday action on the streets of Spanish cities, but by mixing it live, with an amplified electric bass and a clarinet, the action has become a sound performance and a transgression. INSTANT BAND, but this is not Music is a sound performance, collaborative, remote and therefore oriented to audio and video
NATALIA SCHUL Em pedaços (In slices), 2’48" (2017) She moves broken mirrors that show fragments of her face and the front of her body to the fixed camera that only captures the back and the vision provided by the mirror’s reflexes.
ROCHELLE COSTI “Negócios à parte” , 10’03" (2017) The video “Negócios à parte” was held for the recent exhibition Avenida Paulista no Masp, São Paulo. In a survey of about 8 months, the artist traveled the avenue dozens of times, recording invisibility through characters detached from the corporatist profile of the region and small incidental and ephemeral events. Renato Firmino, painter, scavenger and resident of the avenue participate as a conductor of the video and make a partnership with the artist. In the exhibition, his car serves as space for the projection of the video. Soundtrack: Sara Não Tem Nome.
SAMY SFOGGIA Aféfé Ikú, 01′38″, p&b (2017) Video Art pos Dadaist, tupi or not tupi.
SANDRA BECKER Roundtrip, 2’53″ (2017) The Video is a search of life. Where do we go to and what are we looking for?It is shot in New York and in Berlin using both cities as reference in the art world where artists are searching their way to got to. The elevator is used to show the up and downs artists are facing trying to finance their projects.
TULA ANAGNOSTOPOULOS The red carpet, 2" (2017) The video “The Red Carpet"; problematizes the relationship between audience and artist during a walk through the red carpet. During a walk through the red carpet, the red carpet stretched out to the ground indicates a way forward. It is a remarkable path to walk, with slow or rapid steps, to walk under the eyes of a public desirous to see the stars – mainly actors and actresses. (When you are part of the convenient group of anonymous people who for one reason or another are out of focus, the trajectory is a moment of suspension: neither reality nor illusion.) Look at all sides at once: when you are inside and / or when you’re out? This video was made in collaboration with Tecna PUC / RS, Kolor360º during the 45th Gramado Film Festival, Brazil.
VIVIANE GUELLER Camburi (Série Interlúdio) (Interlude series), 01’54″ (2016) The Interlude series is constitutes from situations of suspension in daily life. In a interference of the sound over the image, the Camburi video traces the experience from the displacement and the waiting as poetic exercise.
DIRECTORS LOUNGE SPECIAL ON FLYING VISIT AT BAIZ
VIVEK BUDAKOTI (INDIA) PIED PIPER
Seen through the prism of Bertolt Brecht, the film Pied Piper is a satirical folklore of a simple laundryman, Chunnilal, who is rumored to have acquired his beloved donkey’s brains in a freak accident. Charming millions with his asinine conscience that refuses to let go, Chunnilal soon rises to become the most popular hero of his time whom the establishments starts to fear. Laced with black humour, the film mirrors the current socio-political status in India ranging from extreme disappointment to almost juvenile hopefulness.
Joining us from Lithuania, Remigijus Venckus will present his work at Directors Lounge Screening at Z-Bar. The artist presents his videos on occasion of an exhibition at the gallery ‘World in A Room’ in Berlin. The films are mostly short captured impressions from daily life, recorded and edited in the style of experimental film with references to films from early 60s and 70s, however, in a much more playful manner and stance.
In reference to the video program of R. Venckus, it may be interesting to remark that Jonas Mekas and George Maciunas, US artists, connected with ‘avant-garde film’ and Fluxus, are both originally from Lithuania and were first connected with the Lithuanian emigration community in the United States. Mekas talks about this in his film ‘Walden / Lost, Lost, Lost’ (1969 / 1976). In his opinion, he arrived in New York, and on the art scene, only after he left the group of expatriates gathering in N.YC. Later on in post-soviet era, after 1989, it seems that at least part of the art scene in Lithuania has embraced the two artists and somehow repatriated them, together with Fluxus.
R. Venckus makes direct reference to Fluxus and the experimental films of the 60’s. In contrast to those artists, however, R. Venckus’ films play with forms and references in a much lighter way than those artists’ from the 60’s, whose humor was acidly addressed at the opposed notion of ‘high art’. Mekas, as director of the Anthology Film Archive, for example, tried hard to create a canon of avant-garde in order to establish the film as a serious art form. Those struggles seem to be far in the past, when looking at R. Venckus’ early films.
However, the landscapes appearing in the artist’s films mostly seem to be dark and grey, not happy. The struggles may be different, less about art concepts and the seriousness of a style, but a struggle with society and with a new kind of conservatism in art and in public discourse, nonetheless. His more recent films address those struggles differently, and in a more direct way. ‘My success story’ (2013), an autobiographical film essay, has never been shown in Lithuania yet. The film talks about the difficulties of fighting against prejudices and homophobia in the surroundings of conservative academia. His newest film ‘The Letter’ (2018), on the other hand, turns a love letter into a poetic sound and image piece of dance by a male dancer intermitted with urban landscapes, and during the winter time. The voice, reading, or better, reciting the words of the letter turn the movements of the dance into a song of praise and lament. The addressee stays unknown to the viewer, or the viewer may find himself being addressed as a possible sender or recipient of the letter.
Remigijus Venckus will be present for Q&A at the screening. Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr.
‘Return to Fluxus’ is a video art program of Remigijus Venckus created in a period of 2002 – 2018. The program will be presented at the ‘Directors Lounge Screening’ at Z-Bar 29 March 2018, 9pm.
Double Feature *Déjalo Ser* + *Tercer Ojo, Tercer Mente, Tercer Mundo*
Txema Novelo from Mexico City is joining us for a Berlinale special to present a double feature of his new film „Déjalo Ser“ together with compilation of music videos that he created for alternative rock musicians in Mexico. Since Novelo started creating super-8 films for a punk music label he has managed in Mexico City. In the following years, he expanded his creative production in an exponential curve, with making his own films, with exhibitions of drawings and installations. Novelo’s production at the same time stays faithful to his own spirit, and you could truthfully say, spiritual search for life, art, music and an alternative way to look at the world, which at the same time is mixed with irony and a good portion of humor.
“Déjalo Ser” is the story of a Rock Mexican band, who’s lead singer is suffering from a lack of inspiration. After a mysterious meeting with a foreign singer, the band embarks with her on a journey to Oaxaca in search of a mysterious psychoactive medicine. A trip inspired by Antonin Artaud exile into Mexico, a search for a primitive, deeper and purer reality.
Shot on Super 8mm with sync dialogues, this guerrilla style road movie, plays homage to George Kuchar’s films and transgression cinema in a unique Mexican way. Produced by LE FRESNOY under the tutelage of invited artist and film legend Bela Tarr, ‘Let it be’ has accomplished in the first six months of its completion a special mention at the Morelia International Film Festival, and a selection for international competition at Clermont Ferrand 2018 in France.
“Tercer Ojo, Tercer Mente, Tercer Mundo” (Spanish for: Third Eye, Third Mind, Third Word) is a selection of recent videos for musician, Novelo has supported for many years. They are shot in different formats of super-8, 16mm, 35mm film and digital video and in one way or the other make reference to avant-garde films. The films, and the music, are inspired by a desire for life and identity in a world of media domination, capital and crime, without ever taking things too seriously. They are full of iconographical quotes to rock and pop of the era that rock music still had a promise, and if it was the three minute fame promoted by Velvet Underground (or Andy Warhol), or when music was “my religion”. On the other hand, to the German audience and between the lines, they also show, a great deal of Mexican life and urban culture from the perspective of contemporary youth. Their relation to nature and Mexican popular culture, and the reality of urban live become the backdraft for audiovisual imaginations.
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