Winter Film & Video Wolverhampton Art Gallery December 2009 - May 2010
Wolverhampton Art Gallery presents a season of exhibitions showcasing the best in Film and Video Art.
Event Launch of Balnakiel & Now Showing Wednesday 17 February 5.30pm – 8pm
Featuring films which explore the strange to the sublime, from the emotional landscapes of Balnakiel to the haunting footage of a maverick Glaswegian psychoanalyst in What you see is where you're at. Explore everyday American life in Midwest, take a glance through the artist's window in Holylands and meet the Syrian housewife who claims to bear the stigmata wounds of Christ's crucifixion in The Gates of Damascus. In a wide range of film making styles: home movies, news media, black and white archive footage, TV documentary and mainstream cinema, this season of exhibitions challenges preconceptions of Film & Video Art and celebrates this rich and diverse medium.
Mark Boulos, The Gates of Damascus, 2005. Courtesy the artist. Copyright the National Film and Television School.
Surrealist and Experimental Cinema 1 Dec 09 - 29 Jan 10
The Surrealist movement paved the way for a sudden influx of experimental and avant-garde creative approaches in art, film and literature. In these films, disjointed sequences and repetitions of patterns and objects were often used alongside experimental lighting and basic special effects to create abnormal dream-like scenes. This series of experimental films highlights some of the artists, directors and actors who collaborated to create these iconically powerful and classic films. For full programme information go to www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk
Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel, Un Chien Andalou. Courtesy of Contemporary Films London.
Now Showing: New Film and Video 12 Dec 09 - 6 Mar 10
Now Showing celebrates the important media of film and video, demonstrating how it has become significantly utilised by artists over the past decade. 12 - 21 Dec Mark Lewis Children's Games, Heygate Estate (2002) 29 Dec - 8 Jan Mark Boulos The Gates of Damascus (2005) 9 Jan - 22 Jan Luke Fowler What You See is Where You're At (2001) 3 Jan - 05 Feb Idris Khan A Memory‌ After Bach's Cello Suites (2006) 6 Feb - 19 Feb Rosalind Nashashibi Midwest (2002) 20 Feb - 6 March The Otolith Group Otolith (2003) A Hayward Touring exhibition from Southbank Centre, London on behalf of Arts Council England.
Rosalind Nashashibi, Midwest, 2002. Courtesy the artist. Copyright the artist and Sinibad Films Ltd.
Balnakiel by Shona Illingworth 6 Feb 10 - 1 May 10
A single-channel video and three-dimensional sound installation, accompanied by drawings and photographs, Balnakiel is a complex investigation of memory, history and spirit-of-place set in the village (and former Cold War radar base) of Balnakiel in the far North West of Scotland, where the artist grew up. Balnakiel was co-commissioned with John Hansard Gallery. Funded by the Wellcome Trust with support from The Highland Legacy Trust and Danish Embassy.
Still from Balnakiel, Shonal Illingworth. Copyright the artist.
Holylands by Seamus Harahan 20 Mar 10 - 3 Jul 10 Event Seamus Harahan in conversation followed by drinks reception Wednesday 17 March 3.30pm – 4.30pm
Shot in Belfast through the artist's window and on the streets occupying a 20 yard radius from his house, Holylands is the name of the neighbourhood, formed from a collection of street names - Jerusalem Street, Palestine Street, Damascus Street, Carmel Street and Cairo Street. Holylands is also a district of the city that combines a transient student population with more long-term residents. The film in part depicts these people going about their every day lives, showing fragments of their negotiations through this territory but it firmly resists either a documentary or narrative approach. A bag lady rummages in a bin, young boys play with a water pipe, and a delivery van unloads out side a shop. It is an ordinary snapshot of an extraordinary area, defined by its history of religious divide and social unrest. Purchased through the Contemporary Art Society's Acquisition Scheme 2009.
Seamus Harahan, Holylands, 2004, single channel video installation, colour with sound, 32.30 mins. Purchased through the Contemporary Art Society's Acquisition Scheme 2009.
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