BLACK OUTS – THE ECLIPSE OF THE IMAGE AS A STRATEGY FOR VISIBILITY

The transition from a black screen to an image is in cinematic experience synonymous with the beginning of a screening. But what if the projected film strip or video image remains mainly black? The viewer is thrown upon his own resources and is confronted with the basic conditions of the medium. Works that remain black or which opt deliberately for images filmed in negative set themselves apart metaphorically by means of blindness. Blindness as a synonym for obscenity; as a product of the empty sensation-and-catastrophe-machine of the media, with their simplified and one-dimensionally distorted flow of information. And also the blindness of that for which no images have been handed down in the course of history or of which no images are any longer possible. Black Outs assembles six artistic positions in which black has been chosen to counter blindness and thereby bring about visibility. The denial by the mass media of the preformed relationship between language and reality thus opens onto a critical counter-space. Contrary to what is typical of television or film, the medium does not disappear into what it shows, but shows itself as such. These works give importance to what is unimaginable, but nevertheless conceivable. In this case, black functions as a space for the imagination.

Program:
Futur Antérieur (a.k.a. Disciples of the Heinous Path - Part 1: The Pain of Everyone)
Herman Asselberghs, 2007, 15’20”, colour, Dutch spoken, English subtitles.
Hören Sie, die Stille
Mekhitar Garabedian, 2007, 2’54", b&w, English and German running text/titles.
Cellule 719
Annik Leroy, 2004, 14’27", colour, French running text/titles.
Straatman Lottery
Angel Vergara, 2000, 5’41", colour and b&w, English and French running text/titles.
Disorient
Laurent Van Lancker & Florence Aigner, 2010, 36’, colour and b&w, 35 mm and 16mm and Super8mm and photos transferred to video, English and French spoken, English subtitles.
nocturne (lampedusa - fort europa)
Pieter Geenen, 2006, 28’, b&w, silent.

Related events

• OPEN ARCHIVE #2 - REFLECTIONS ON CONTEMPORARY ART, MEDIA CULTURE AND ARCHIVING

This event is part of THEMATIC SERIES - SCREENINGS