Directors Lounge Screening Johnny Welch Arcane Rhythms
Thursday, 25 October 2018 21:00 Z-Bar Bergstraße 2 10115 Berlin-Mitte
Johnny Welch, filmmaker and photographer from Sydney, Australia lives in Berlin for more than 3 years and is an active member of Labor Berlin. Since coming to Berlin, his work has become more strongly connected with the aesthetic of analog film, with the possibilities of optical printing. Even if edited and projected digitally, analog compositing seems to allow him to create a richer image of high density and depth.
Based on black and white techniques (mostly), the films seem to explore sheer blackness, instead of a black and white aesthetic. Strongly connected with punk music, dark wave and electronic noise, the filmmaker achieves a stunning quality of deep black color with his films. Experimental techniques of emulsion lifts and cracks, combined with black ink, sometimes with an additional tint of red or toning with blue, are combined with dark images of male and female characters. The driving rhythm of the sound track enhances the impression of blackness. Another connection is Aleister Crowley, a controversial figure, and a British occultist from the beginning of the 20th century who inspired a number of important artists and filmmakers like Kenneth Anger and even Fernando Pessoa. Welch’s film Aurum (super8 / digital) from 2018 is a contribution to Crowley’s Liber 777, a book related to occult or cabalistic games with numbers. For Johnny Welch, the occupation and meditation with occult theory may be a search for liberating ideas, or it may even be used as a release from the haunting personal messages once ago sent by peers. (Discharge Working I and II, 2017/18).
For the viewer, the work has an attracting, maybe haunting quality, tinted with a stunning black color. The black sun (in Aurum) for example is an amazing symbol without the need of occult references, and it is a beautiful image interwoven with blackness of painted film material that may stay in the mind of the viewer as a striking image on its own account.
The artist will be present and available for Q&A after the screening. Curated by Klaus W. Eisenlohr
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.
Ahead of the Berlin art week the Fata Morgana gallery opens an exhibition of works by Julia Murakami and André Werner that is as subliminal as it is immersive.
What both artists unites is an artistic approach that does not only reflects an existing reality but rather transcends into the imagery of new realities.
The multiverse of Julia Murakami is filled with layers of Greek mythology, Marvel heroes and Hollywood icons, a world unbound to gravity where dreams and Chimeras lure in the dark. Julia Murakami depicts this strange and surreal realm with a casual implicitness that, like old family photographs, triggers a moment of déjà vu. And, in fact, private photographs, self-portraits and memorabilia are often the starting point in the works of Julia Murakami. Images from unknown, yet familiar worlds.
André Werner is rather an observer than a producer of pictures. Like an ornithologist with a camera, he is a hunter and collector in the realm of the images. What get caught in his machinery of TV sets, cameras, printers and copiers, is often already an image of an image of an image. The pictures that are freely floating in the net, constantly multiplying themselves, are frozen in a single moment of their metamorphoses, not to capture them, but to celebrate their autopoietic beauty.
The alchemical process of creating such images is as important as the final output and the interactive video installation “circles” offers the spectator a chance to become part of such a play in a game with his own image. Louise Blissett Julia Murakami und André Werner 14.9. – 20.9. Fata Morgana Opening 14.9. 7 pm Finissage 20.9. 7 pm
The exhibition is kindly supported by Z-Bar, Directors Lounge and Bürkle IT
Images from above :
Julia Murakami and André Werner by Joachim Seinfeld
Julia Murakami, from the series Exercises in Levitation I–III, 2015.
André Werner Was vom Kino übrig bleibt | What Remains Of Cinema. #2 Autopoiesis 2018.
André Werner, Circles | Interactive video installation for 13 monitors and a curious person, 2017
Cosima Reif, 50 Jahre Aktionismus, 50 years of (Viennese) Actionism, stamp from the Austrian Pure Chance Postal Service, 2018
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.
CONTEMPORARY ART RUHR, MEDIA ART FAIR, 1 – 3 JUNE 2018
“Transit “by Medienwerkstatt im Kulturwerk des bbk berlin
The program shows recent films from Medienwerkstatt dealing with the subject of identity. In times of transition the works reflect topics from changing housing environments to new governmental regulations of surveillance as the new Chinese point system on so called „good“ behaviour. Thoughts still seem to be free up in the sky where birds take on beautiful abstract formations.
Works by Gabrielle Mainguy, Lucy Powell, Silke Gänger, Bettina Rave, Elena Gavirisch, Sandra Becker, Stephanie Hanna, Thorbjørn Christiansen, Lioba von den Driesch and Nicola Rubinstein
TRANSIT will be screened at the contemporary art ruhr video lounge presented by Directors Lounge.
Lucy Powell“Hill Climbing With Random Restarts” 2 synchronisierte Videos (moving in) und (moving out) von jeweils 2 Stunden und 40 Minuten. Ausschnitt aus „moving in“ 7 min, 2017
Silke Gänger,K77, 9:04 min 1997/2017
Bettina Rave, Painting, 5:30, 2017
Elena Gavirisch,The Mirror, 2 Kanal Video 6:47 min, 2011/2017
Out on the (Fata Morgana) floor, four suspiciously alien creatures (Tristan Honsinger dragging voice and bow across low registers), Moeko Yamazaki (beating a ritual drum to within an inch of its life), Izumi Ose (as silver and silver gets, all a-glitter and a-twitch) and Woody Hoofer (acting up with his body as a sensual weapon) got very close indeed to the gathering one of during DL’s various presentations for the Mitte Media Festival 2018. A slew of unearthly film cuts and an ethereal installation were also part of the mix. Who needs gravity, after all?
Backstage pix from the very strange troupe before their DL performance at Fata Morgana Gallery, which sprang straight out of Hiroki Mano’s film “Spiritual Meetin’”. Part of our presentation at the Mitte Media Festival. If you missed it, well….
Performers of the night: Izumi Ose, Moeko Yamazaki, Tristan Honsinger and Woody Hoofer. Photos: KT/DL
SHOTS IN THE LIGHT AND THE DARK II:
DIRECTORS LOUNGE AT MITTE MEDIA FESTIVAL 20 – 22 April, 2018
Join Fata Morgana/coGalleries, Z-Bar, Leo Kuelbs Collection, Benhad & Djilal, BRLO, Chased Magazine, Kunstleben Berlin and Directors Lounge for the second annual MITTE MEDIA FESTIVAL! Lots of performance, art talks and videos of all kinds in the heart of Berlin’s Mitte neighborhood.
Mitte Media Festival takes its creative cues from the neighborhood itself: a thriving international scene with its own deep German heart. Berlin-based artists are mixed with a variety of international creators to provide a cross-section of what’s going on in the world of video and media art.
DL at Mitte Media | Program I (88 min) “In the other side, by her side” curated by Elaine Tedesco (Brazil), 20 April, 5 – 7 pm at Z-Bar: Contemporary videos of women artists about the city, urban issues, the arts circuit, performance, social problems, speeches and their forms, feminism, audiovisual language, memory, selfimage, daydreaming… Read more…
DL at Mitte Media | Program II (110 min) curated by Kenton Turk and Klaus W. Eisenlohr, 20 April, 8 – 10 pm at 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). Read more…
DL at Mitte Media | “Was vom Kino übrig blieb” (What remains from cinema), André Werner, 2018, 21 April, 6:30 – 8 pm at Z-Bar: The first in a series of Interactive video installations capturing glimpses of cinematica. See more…
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)
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