Istanbul > Berlin > New York and (surely) beyond: Erdal Inci in Times Square
Video loop Wunderkind Erdal Inciof Istanbul, not least known to DL-ers through our first-time-in-Germany presentation of his insistently circling light-and-shadow-plays at DLX in Berlin way back in 2014, is now plastering his hypnotic (and at times unsettling) digital visions in nowhere less than Times Square, in the heart and core of the Big Apple. The work involved is called “Centipedes” and is presented in collaboration with DL kindred souls Moving Image Art Fair. But then, we always knew his work was astounding. Congrats from all of us here in Berlin, Erdal!
If you want to delve deeper into this enigmatic man’s soul, dive into our DL Deep Feature on Erdal, “Knocked For a Loop” – just click here.
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.
Directors Lounge Screening Clara Bausch Momentum Thursday, 25 January 2018 21:00 Z-Bar Bergstraße 2 10115 Berlin-Mitte
Observations through the camera combined in different ways create new realities. Clara Bausch, who is born in Berlin and lives here as artist, strictly works with analogue images in her films, installations and photography. She studied Fine Arts at UdK Berlin and is co-founder of Labor Berlin. It is the ordinary, simple things in life that capture her attention. And it is the combinations of impressions, occurrences and images that create reality. The new realities that Clara Bausch creates in her art work are by no means out of this world. On the contrary, they are different, sometimes very personal views onto our reality. Cinema, or the images of newsletters are as much part of this reality as is ordinary life. Rhythm, the space between, or unexpected combinations of images, all create an intermission, an interval between images, which makes it possible to receive a new meaning – the opposite of information overflow in broadcast and so called social media.
In a number of films, Clara Bausch uses white space between the images, created by clear film. Fully overexposed film, which for example happens if you open the camera; becomes clear during development. In “Blitzen #1”, this is what Bausch does recurrently with her super-8 camera in between taking pictures. She takes a day for herself on the streets of Athens for the 3-minute film, edited in the camera. Glimpses of reflections of buildings and street life on glass, shopping windows, car lights and mirrors are thus being combined as associations of images.
Another series of films work with the overlay of images that happen if you illuminate a newsletter page from the back. “And the smile is red on red” takes this simple technique of image production onto the roofs of Kairo in order to communicate with people from Kairo. The film shows people who gather on the flat roof top of a house in the evening, and at night with flashlights illuminating the newsletter cutouts Clara Bausch had brought from Germany. While editing, Clara creates a rhythm of montage and of spaces between the images, giving the viewer the opportunity to create the story by “reading between the lines”.
“Wald” shows the camera travel-panning over pieces of shrubbery on the edge of the woods. The sound is very present and seems to be original atmosphere sound. Over time, the viewer realizes that the pan travels through different seasons and different weather conditions, and what started as a meditation on nature on a winter day becomes more a more complex story about the city and nature as the time unfolds.
They are places never far away on an cosmic scale, but the luminous chunks of NEW YORK, BERLIN and PRAGUE can still play a game of hide-and-seek where you don’t recognize the most sensation-fixated players at first or only find them later – and maybe miss joining the game. Enter “City Primeval, New York, Berlin, Prague”, 552 pages that can jump-start you into a new sport of visual and (con)textual pleasures, and let you in on the all-out amusements. At turns shiny, sinful, sensitive, senseless – it is all of this and more, a romp through three cities that will kill for art and good times, with 72 key figures taking you on a taste-test of their hangouts, hangovers and hang-ups, with vivid imagery lining the path. Weighing in at 2.6 pounds, it qualifies as an underground bible of sorts, showing how these sweat asylums thrive and interconnect, with a cast of enigmatic oddities including Nick Zedd, J.Jackie Baier, Nat Finkelstein, Max Dax, Lydia Lunch, Julia Murakami, Miron Zownir and many more, including previously unpublished pix and up-close stories of cult(ural) icons like Klaus Nomi, Iggy Pop, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat andBrian Eno to boot.
Put together with pedantic precision in upscale fanzine style by known-everyone-been-everywhere New Yorker Robert Carrithers and partner-in-crime Louis Armand, the volume is following up its New York MoMA presentation earlier this month with among other things this zoom-in encounter. Back on Earth, six of the contributors will present the book close-up in the best way possible: in the flesh, at BuchHafen in the bosom of Neukölln. Besides Robert Carrithers, sidle up to Carola Göllner, Steve Morell, Mark Reeder, Kenton Turk and André Werner. An evening of feral tales and seductive stories from the earthly reaches of the heavens. Meteorites and falling stars welcome.
“Trans women on Ku’damm” (1985, Kenton Turk), taken from “City Primeval, New York, Berlin, Prague”
The book City Primeval: New York Berlin Prague documents the zeitgeist of art and culture in NYC, Berlin, and Prague from the 1960s to nowadays. Key artists document life in each city and offer a unique glimpse into their exceptional universe. Including moments from the lives of Lydia Lunch, Iggy Pop, Jean Michel Basquiat, Penny Arcade, Mark Reeder, David Černý and many others who have shaped the spirit of the time. “City Primeval” was curated by New York photographer Robert Carrithers and writer/critical theorist Louis Armand.
Program: 19:00-22:00 @ Kino Central: Book Release Event Robert Carrithers, Louis Armand & contributors introduce the book with projected images, talks, and interact with the audience. Presentations from photographers and Berlin film makers about their work: Miron Zownir | J. Jackie Baier | Ilse Ruppert | Timo Jacobs | Mark Reeder Live-Act: Song „City Primeval“ by Phil Shoenfelt and Marcia Schofield 22:00 @ Eschschloraque: Book Release Party – DJs, Performances, Live-Acts DJs: Black Black God and Gina Dorio/Cobra Killer Live Acts & Performances: Evelyn Frantti: Burlesque | Lady Gaby & Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt | Mona Mur performs new poems by Miron Zownir | Viviana Druga: Ritualistic Action Royal Comfort (Oska Wald, Jimmy Trash & Big Daddy Mugglestone) | Phil Shoenfelt
The book release events will bring the stories visually into life in all the cities of their Creation – in Berlin on November 30, 2017 @ Haus Schwarzenberg, Rosenthaler Str. 39, 10178 Berlin! Entrance: 5 Euros
Photo: Phil Shoenfelt playing at DL IX
Directors Lounge Screening Marissa Rae Niederhauser Unbinding Spell Thursday, 30 November 2017 21:00 Z-Bar Bergstraße 2 10115 Berlin-Mitte
Marissa Rae Niederhauser, dancer, artist and filmmaker from Seattle, United States, lives in Berlin for two years, now. Her films vary between radical body expressions, and transcending body-nature relations, the complications of desire, and the search for love while counteracting the (male) role expectations.
Her work as an artist is based on modern and contemporary dance. After learning ballet at an early age, she studied dance at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Through documenting her early dance pieces, she learned how to edit video and moved from there to her own performances for the camera, while still frequently performing live dances. Though she does not have a formal training in visual arts, her process of working with video is surprisingly similar to visual artists working with performance and video. Like many artists, she often works alone or with only a small crew (camera/sound person) instead of big dance productions. Influences by artists like Ana Mendieta, Carolee Schneeman and Charlotte Moorman are becoming obvious in the pieces which have performance quality, while others are structured as dance choreography.
Marissa Rae Niederhauser will present a program of video work, all conceived and edited by herself. And she will be available for Q&A after the screening.
Mark Reeder, Bob Rutman, Dirk Kalinowski, Wolfram Spyra and YOU! Fri Nov 10th 7pm.
28 years after the tumbling of the Berlin wall our good friends of the Iron Curtain project celebrate the role of punk, chaos and art on both sides of the formerly divided Berlin. Still anarchists from the heart, the gang, together with friends will create a wild mash up of live music, video footage, old tapes and lost tunes into 28 minutes of pure chance, noise and fun.
And here’s where you can become part of this spontaneous symphony. Bring any tunes, recordings, tapes from that time and plug it into the sound systems. Tons of cables are at hand, but best if you come with your own device.
The frenzy starts at 7pm at the Galiläa church (now the home of the museum of youth resistance), Rigaer Straße 9, 10247 Berlin.
A true Fuck Yeah Old School event not to be missed.
The Berlin artist Verena Kyselka presents her video works connected with art projects in different countries. Born in Erfurt, Thuringia and having studied at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, her video work is related with her earlier emphasis on performance. She further works with installations, collages and photography. Her interest in questions of identity let her investigate people’s connection with culture, tradition and ethnic differences. Her many projects in Asian, Arabic and Latin American countries started with invitations to Taiwan, where she has collaborated and exhibited many times with local and international artists. Her quest for identity, especially of women, gives her a distinct interest in how people live, how artists live, and how they connect contemporary life with tradition. It also brought her attention to ethnic minorities, people of indigenous background or to people whose families or peoples had to migrate in the past.
Artists who research on ethnographic themes often do not dwell much on cultural differences within the countries they are interested in. Traditions of other countries are often seen as singular, unicultural and seen as unchanging during generations. Cultural changes related to migration or ethnic domination however are rarely perceived.
In her projects, Verena Kyselka often collaborates with local artists. Performance artists, musicians or people unrelated to contemporary art appear in Verena’s films and express their issues through their art. In this way, the video artist transforms the documentary idea into a multi-layered cultural expression with many voices, instead of attempting to “objectively” record ethnographical sources.
The screening will present a large selection of her video work from different countries. The artist will be present for Q&A.
DORIS SCHMID. PROJEKTIONEN Book Presentation Friday, 20 October, 19.00 Echo Bücher, Berlin Grüntalerstrasse 9, 13357 Berlin
Introduction: Klaus W. Eisenlohr Concert by Katharina Klement (Zither, Elektronic)
Doris Schmid is a Berlin artist who has contributed to Directors Lounge screenings and festivals for many years. The book is connected with a screening of Doris Schmid at Directors Lounge Screenings in September 2014. The discussion with curator Klaus W. Eisenlohr after the screening was recorded and resumed on another day. The edited version of the conversation gives a valuable insight of the ideas, background and process of filmmaking of Doris Schmid. The book altogether has become an art project interweaving filmstills, photographs, texts and responses of divers musicians and authors.
DORIS SCHMID. PROJEKTIONEN Artist book, 2017, Hardcover Deutsch / Englisch, 192 Seiten Schlebrügge.editor Verlag für zeitgenössische Kunst, Wien
With contributions by Klaus W. Eisenlohr, Katharina Klement, Klaus Merz, Jürgen Palmtag and Thomas Peter
Grafik design: Petra Egg, Translation: Helen Adkins
Find the Directors Lounge booth and C.A.R. Video Lounge in the SANAA Building, Zeche Zollverein
“A Short History of Abandoned Places” by Ra di Martino
“Mont Royal” by Sandra Becker
“Eine Katze hat sieben Leben” by Maria Felix Korporal
cinematic art and cuts of media experimentation at the C.A.R. Video Lounge!
Dedicated presentations include select moving image work from Experiments in Cinema, a festival designed to bring the international community of cinematic experimentalists to Nuevo Mexico to inspire a new generation of media activists to participate in shaping future trends of cultural representation. On top, we will be screening various animations from the Medienwerkstatt Berlin, an artist-run project of the BBK Berlin offering production facilities for media artists.
Find the Directors Lounge booth and the C.A.R. Video Lounge (Auditorium) in the SANAA building at World Heritage Zeche Zollverein. Stop by, say hello and take in our delectable film selection … See you at C.A.R.!
Participating Artists & Filmmakers (DL Booth and C.A.R. Video Lounge):
Deborah Kelly, Kyra Clegg, Ruth Hayes, Dianna Barrie, Guli Silberstein, Richard Ashrowan, Caryn Cline, Linda Fenstermaker, Reed O’Beirne, Kristen Lauth Shaeffer, Ian Haig, Natasha Cantwell, Patricia McInroy, Salise Hughes, Ra di Martino, Julia Murakami, André Werner, Carola Göllner, Maria Felix Korporal, Laurent Bebín (Carbon Cream), Petra Lottje, Herbert Liffers, Lina Walde, Heike Hamann, Darko Aleksovski, Sandra Becker, Marissa Rae Niederhauser, Weronika Skonieczna, Karen Thastum (Tura Ya Moya), Anett Vietzke & Veronika Bökelmann, Rosanna Chizhova, Lioba von den Driesch, Betty Böhm, Helen Anna Flanagan, Juliane Ebner .
contemporary art ruhr, the innovative art fair
World Cultural Heritage Site Zollverein XII, Gelsenkirchener Str. 181/ 209 45309 Essen, Germany
Opening hours: Friday, October 27, 8 pm, V.I.P.-Preview, 6 pm
Public fair hours: Saturday, October 28, 12 am – 8 pm Sunday, October, 29, 11 am – 7 pm
_______
pictured: ”Michael Caine -The look III” by Carola Göllner
