BELGIAN FOCUS (2004)

New Media & Sound Lounge

A temporary media library line-up allows the visitor to make his personal choice à la carte from over a hundred titles.

Sat, 16 Oct 2004 - Sat, 23 Oct 2004
14:00 - 00:00

Vollevox #4
Krikri

2004
audio | 00:21:47
spoken | dutch, french, english

Uit het leven van P.P. Rubens
Jos De Gruyter
Harald Thys

2004
audio | 00:34:11
spoken | dutch

Jos De Gruyter
Jos de Gruyter (1965) studied at Sint-Lukas in Brussels and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. In his visual work, installations and videos, which he usually makes in collaboration with Harald, he uses his intractable sense of humour to outline situations and characters on the edge of alienation. His work has been shown, among others, at the Xavier Hufkens gallery (Brussels), the Beursschouwburg (Brussels), the CCCB (Barcelona) and the Irish Museum of modern Art in Dublin. De Gruyter lives and works in Brussels.

Harald Thys
Jos de Gruyter (1966) and Harald Thys (1965) both studied at Sint-Lukas in Brussels. After that De Gruyter studied at the Rijkacademie in Amsterdam, Thys continued his studies at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. In their work, consisting of installations and videos, alienating situations are outlined against a minimalist background, often drenched in a subtle and specific sense of humour. Characters are sentenced to reduced prototypical behaviour, void of their personality. With regards to editing, camera handling and requisites as well as dialogue they limit themselves to the bare necessities. The joint work of de Gruyter and Thys has been shown in places like the galerie EOF (Paris), de Singel (Antwerp), the Openluchtmuseum Middelheim (Antwerp) and the Kunsthalle Basel.

SoftBomb
f0AM

multimedia installation

https://f0.am/softbomb

SKANNER
Angelo Vermeulen
Tamuraj

2003
multimedia installation
non spoken

SKANNER is an interactive audio/video performance on human fear. The audience is exposed to terrifying images and sounds, which are edited on the spot. Sensors for blood pressure, heartbeat and skin conductivity are used to measure up the bodily reactions of the audience and these data are used by SKANNER to adjust and optimise the performance. Because of this data processing and the genetic algorithms the performance evolves into an ever more powerful ‘fear machine’, exploring the outer edges of fear and making it possible to verify how actual fear can still be incorporated into contemporary image and sound culture. The images contain, among others, fragments from horror films and self-made animations. The soundtrack consists of a mixture of soundscapes, electronic compositions and sound samples. Because the development of the evening is determined by the involuntary and spontaneous reactions of the audience each performance might be different. Tamuraj and Vermeulen want to travel all over the world with SKANNER to investigate the degree of cultural differences with regards to feelings of anxiety between, for instance, Europeans, Asians and Americans. In the testing phase, or the so-called ‘lab tests’, presented in 2004, among others at Z33 (Hasselt), the reactions of the audience were filmed, so that the performance might be further developed.

Angelo Vermeulen
Angelo Vermeulen got his Ph. D. in Biology, studied at the Academie voor Schone Kunsten of Louvain and HISK in Antwerp. In his work he often applies his scientific background by making use of laboratory-like testing equipment in installations. In them natural processes often play an important part. Vermeulen’s work has been shown, among others in STUK (Louvain) and in Lokaal01 (Breda).

Tamuraj
Tamuraj is a producer and musician/sound technician in the field of electronic (dance) music who uses Ghent as his base of operation.

Peopledatabase/Essential emptyness/Identity as a composition
Unamas Projects

2004
multimedia installation | col.
non spoken

Peopledatabase is an ongoing collaboration project, constituting an investigation into ‘representation’ in digital culture through self-portraits of participants. In the era of digital media the relationship between society, technology and culture transforms into new relations. Between old and new media connections arise, resulting in cross-pollinations between artistic, cultural and social ends. Peopledatabase consists of three different phases. In the first phase a virtual meeting environment on the internet is launched, in the second phase virtual encounters from the first phase were realized in real life. For three months the participants worked on these encounters in a workshop, on experiments and exchanges. The last phase is essential emptyness, a multimedia-installation taking ‘representation’ as a starting point. Five (female) artists were invited to make a self-portrait, becoming part of an interactive installation. The notion of ‘representation’ was investigated by means of a contextualisation of the five portraits within a ‘meta portrait’. By combining and defragmenting audio, video and spatial construction a merged identity submerged, a representation of the five artists. The installation was shown in the March/April 2004 period, in the Beursschouwburg Brussels and the five participating artists were Anouk De Clercq, Manon de Boer, Shelli Jashari, Sophie Nys and Isabelle Comaro. The real-time deconstruction and contextualisation was performed by Gert Aertsen, Guy van Belle and Annemie Maes. The installation was adapted into a DVD under the name Identity as a composition, containing the five deformed portraits.

https://www.unamas-projects.org

Okno #01
Anne Wellmer
Guy Van Belle

2004
multimedia installation

The Okno-project consists of a series of collaboration projects set up by Looking Glass – a gallery for art and new media in Brussels – in the historical ice caves of the VUB. The location consists of 2 underground, connected spaces, with a total length of 60m, a height of 12m and a width of 10m they are among the biggest ice caves in Europe. The first season of this project was realized by mxHz (Guy van Belle). The word ‘okno’ is taken from Vasily Kamensky, a Russian Futurist poet and it means (window) = O+K+N+O = means: space and matter (glass and wood + border of night + air = OKNO). Okno#01 was the result of the collaboration between van Belle and Wellmer. Both artists work with sound in a spatial way and specialize in sound creations within networks. In the performance, which took place on 22 May 2004, they incorporated the spatial qualities of this historical site. Both composers found themselves in one of the two spaces within the basements. The electronic sounds of Wellmer are sent on to mxHz.org over a network, who used them as a basis for a real-time electronic composition. These data in their turn were sent back to the first space. In this way the audience could experience the sound performance on various levels. Underground, where the parts came into being and fragments were edited, and above ground, where everything was fully mixed. Visually this audio performance was supported by video projections. Reacting on the sounds they were projected as data waves on the floors of the basements. The performance was streamed directly over the internet to the Looking Glass gallery.

https://www.lookingglass.be/okno

Anne Wellmer
Anne Wellmer (1966) was born in Germany and she grew up in America. She studied at the Sonology Instituut in The Hague and the Wesleyan University in the U.S. Her work takes various shapes, from performances over installations to musical theatre pieces and choreografies. She also performs with electronic instruments like the VCS3 EMS Synthi, the ARP 2600, the STEIM crackle box (a piece of equipment which directly responds to the physical movements of its player) and the G3 powerbook as an improvising musician, composer and singer. Her work has been shown, among others, at the Melkweg (Amsterdam) and it can be found in the catalogue of Staalplaat (Berlin). Wellmer lives and works in Middletown (U.S.) and The Hague.

Guy Van Belle
Guy van Belle is a computer composer and musician and since 1990 he has been working on the development and use of multimedia techniques for artistic purposes. As an artist and curator he has worked with De Waag (an institute for old and new media) in Amsterdam. He has set up research projects, among others, about multi-media installations at the IPEM (Gent), Keyworx/De Waag (Amsterdam), the HUDBA (Berlin), the Theremin Centre (Moscow) and RIXC (Riga). From 2000 onwards he has worked with the multidisciplinary collective of mxHz.org on performances and internet installations. Since 2003 he has also been operating under the name of An’a*tom’’ic, in collaboration with the Brussels’ collective Code31. Van Belle lives and works in Brussels and Amsterdam.

Move
Yacine Sebti

2004
multimedia installation

Move is an interactive video-installation, much like a magical mirror which reproduces the last movements of the spectator in 16 components. The more they move in the image, the more the image is filled with the mirror image: at times some kind of narcissist kaleidoscope, or a volatile trail of passage. Move has been shown, among others, during pleinOPENair by City Mined and Nova Cinema in Brussels and it came about in collaboration with iMAL.

https://www.imal.org

Meet Somebody
Yacine Sebtl

2003
multimedia installation | col.

In the interactive video installation Meet Somebody the audience is invited to move around in an area, filmed with a video camera. On a screen the spectator sees himself in the environment and, with editing techniques, the person or persons who came ahead of him in the environment as well. The installation makes use of a meeting with the other viewer through a virtual space-time error.

https://www.imal.org

Yacine Sebti
Yacine Sebti (1979) studied at the Ecole de Recherche Graphique in Casablanca. He engages in applications for artificial intelligence, among others, applying himself to the programming of machines, so that they can have thoughts of their own and make their own choices. Since 2001 he has developed production possibilities for sound and visual installations in combination with ‘random’ functions and the interaction between the audience and machines. He participated in a workshop in real time video processing, set up by iMAL, investigating the possibilities of making an interactive video installation. Sebti lives and works in Brussels.

Liquid space
lab[au] I

2004
multimedia

The participants in the Liquid space workshops (spring 2004) originated from various disciplines: film directors, graphical designers, computer programmers, architects and video and media artists. The main subject of the project is the design of spatial audiovisual music, or: how can an artefact be produced in which music and visual input merge in (a) space. To this purpose the technical knowledge of video and film, experience with musical compositions and architectural structures needed to be joined together. For the exhibition Liquid space (8-29 July 2004 in the Matrix Art Project) all these components were brought into action to investigate a new area within the visual arts, accentuating interactivity – not merely among the participants themselves, but with the audience as well -, a transdisciplinary approach and process research contrary to the usual fixed end result which is normally worked towards. A major part of the workshop was the use of interactive 3D applications, which could be adapted and improved on the spot, resulting in perfomances, live performances and concerts which came into being in the installation.

https://www.lab-au.com

La folie originelle
Marie André

2004
audio | 00:00:56
spoken | french

Marie André
Marie André (1951) studied dramatic arts and scenario writing and she used to lecture video art at the Sint-Lukas institute in Brussels. Her video and sound work, which incorporates various genres, like narrative fiction, portrait, documentary and performance, always starts from observation. Her subjects show a strong inclination towards the elegance of everyday gestures and intimate details, with a predominantly female approach. Her work has been shown on a worldwide scale, and it received awards at festivals in Locarno and San Sebastián.

L’espace sonore
Piotr Osuszkiewicz

2003
audio | 00:31:00
non spoken

’L’espace sonore’ is a piece which might be considered a document, a work-in-progress and an independent work. In the first part the DVD mainly serves as documentary material: we are shown a recording of visitors as they interact with Osuszkiewicz’ insatllation ’Plan sonore’ presented by the artist in the entry hall of the court of justice in Brussels in 2002. At the time ’Plan sonore’, in a nutshell a ’sounding board’ in which the visitor determines the sound by the light manipulation, constituted the preliminary crystallization of long-term artistic research on the artistic possibilities of technological means in an architectural context. The fact that the artist does not mean to come to an end, is made clear in a metaphorical way by the second part of ’L’espace sonore’. Also setting off from a documentary perspective, the artist is shown working in the studio with his assistant Vincent Matyn. After a number of minutes the image freezes up, however, and the only thing left is an electronic soundscape. In that respect the artist does not merely prefer sound over image. He consciously leaves room for additions: the artist will keep updating ’L’espace sonore’ with each progress in his research.

Piotr Osuszkiewicz
Piotr Osuszkiewicz, who was born in Poznan, Poland (1965), studied, among others, at the Fine Arts Academy in Poznan and the high school of arts Sint-Lukas in Brussels. Since the late eighties he is active as a visual artist. Osuszkiewicz makes use of very wide-ranging media: from painting, text and sculpture photography and video to light and sound. These various ways of expression converge and cross with each other in his installations, performances and concerts. His body of work shows a great fascination with sound and its relation to space. He defines listening as a way of determining the environment the shape of sound and light installations, often demanding an effort from the spectator. Like with an instrument he manipulates the variables of the works towards a final result and unexpected turns arise out of the combined action. Even though Osuszkiewicz lets out ties with minimalism with his tight geometrically designed installations, the main purpose of his installations is to confuse, amuse, alienate and even mesmerize.

Dustbunnies
Boutique Vizique

2004
multimedia

Dustbunnies is an installation, developed in collaboration with Z33 in Hasselt for the exhibition Feel the Young, an exhibition with tactile art as its subject. A Dustbunnie consists of an organic form, containing two types of sensors, an RF communication system, two micro controllers, a battery, speakers and an engine. In the installation a ‘colony’ of seven Dustbunnies is used. The spherical shapes roll through the environment and gather dust, producing unintelligible sounds. As soon as an audience comes in they turn silent and stop moving, as a result they are best observed in action if the spectator holds still himself. It is possible to touch them, and this might lead to various reactions. Depending on their ‘mood’ they make an amusing, merry noise or, when they get ‘angry’, the irritated Dustbunnie starts shouting, after which all the others take over the cries. The globes will react differently to an individual than to a group as well. The objective was the development of an interface, able to react in an unpredictable way, even without controlled interaction.

https://boutiquevizique.com

Boutique Vizique
Boutique Vizique consists of Hendrik Leper (1975) and Stijn Schiffeleers (1975), both studying photography at the Academie in Ghent and it is a playground for experiment and study. The ‘boutique’ became a platform for the collaboration between artists from various disciplines and musicians, DJ’s, poets and actors. Boutique Vizique looks for direct visual interaction, which resulted in a number of stand-alone applications for audiovisual installations, generating an output depending on the interactions of the participant.

Daishin
Brecht Debackere

2004
multimedia

Daishin stands for ‘infinite reality’ and it it is the name of a realtime performance tool developed by Debackere, made to explore the far edges of the 3D computer environment. Starting point is the acceptance of the fact that the virtual world differs from reality – or another manifestation of reality as we know it – the first step towards the recognition and exporation of its borders. Daishin mixes up the Western idea of space with the Japanese concept ‘ma’. In colloquial ‘ma’ usually stands for ’time’ or spatial position. Not only does it relate to an environment marked out by four objects, it also points towards the natural distance existing between two things and thus it is to be understood as a natural pause, as an interval between two or more phenomenon. ‘Ma’ indicates a spatial-temporal interval enabling the relationship between at least two ’ things’. The performance tool Daishin looks for the experience of the virtual computer environment, surpassing the conventional models and evoking a new sense of infinity. It consists of four parts: clipping, buffering, erasing and modularity. The ’clipping’ part indicates, for instance, that within the limitations of the camera frame, apart from the normal width and height of the image, there is also a depth which can be rendered. In this way, for instance, the diameter of an object can be shown by indicating the distances between which the camera is active. The ‘modularity’ part is the component which makes most use of the ’ma’ principle. These systems make use of a specific number of uniform objects, capable of moving through the environment according to some simple rules. By colouring these objects in various ways and dressing them with certain textures patterns or repetitions take place here as well.

https://www.autofasurer.net
https://www.visualantics.net

Brecht Debackere
Brecht Debackere (1979) studied at the Fine Arts academy in Bruges, Audiovisual art at the RITCS (Brussels) and image & media technology at HKU in Hilversum, and he is a Master of Arts Image synthesis and Computer Animation. Since 1995 he has been working with all aspects of video, analogue as well as digital, fiction as well as animation, media design, video synthesis, interaction and conceptual design. Debackere works under the name of Autofasurer (www.autofasurer.net) on experiments with abstract design and the integration of design with video synthesis and programmed systems. These can be influenced live. He also works with Visualantics (www.visualantics.net), a Belgian foundation, on more figurative, documentary projects, from animation to video clips. Debackere has worked with and performed assignments for, among others, WORM foundation (Rotterdam), PARK4DTV (Amsterdam) and the Dutch TV network VARA. He lives and works in Hilversum and Brussels.

Code Communications Camp - open studio initiative
Code 31

2003
multimedia

During the argosfestival in 2003 Code 31 initiated an unpredictable experiment in which, making use of a phone number, spread out over the various locations of the festival, the audience was able to send on data (text, voice or image) to the Code 31 headquarters at Kanal 20. These data were used as source material for Code 31 and were processed, summarized, analysed and manipulated, after which it was returned to the sender. The purpose of the action was to set up a communication network between the festival locations spread out over the city, using the festival visitors as active information agents.

https://code31.lahaag.org/

Code 31
In February of 2003 Waag Society/Maatschappij voor Oude en Nieuwe Media in Amsterdam (www.waag.org) started an experimental trajectory to investigate creative possibilities of using networks and media art. A wide range of artists working with technological media in various disciplines and from different backgrounds, meets up every Saturday afternoon to explore the possibilities of network-related and ‘connected’ performances. In this ‘open studio’ the creative potential of streaming technologies and audiovisual programming languages is set to the test. In Brussels an independent group has set up a sister initiative: Code 31. The group participates on-line in the Saturday meetings of the Waag Society and on a weekly basis it organises an open studio for research, development and discussions with regards to media art techniques and ways of thinking in varying locations in Brussels. It is an initiative which stimulates the interaction between artists from various disciplines providing the necessary room for experimentation with new technologies. Code31 tries to bring together artists, technicians, and engineers – people who are specifically targeted towards the borderlines between art and technology on the level of research, experiment and reflection.

Citysnapper
iMAGE z[ONE]
lab[au] II

2004
multimedia

Starting in early 2003 with a first edition for the city of Montréal (Canada), the Citysnapper/Observatoire_X project is a sociological and visual approach of main western cities that leads, during a month, to a daily collection of images and inhabitants statements – thus constituting an inter-subjective view of the city – which can be followed on the internet and accessed through a hypertext (http) and cartographic navigation system.

Imagined in collaboration with Lab[AU], taking place in the central area of Brussels (1000 Bruxelles) in June 2005, CITYSNAPPER_Game is a playful visual approach of the contemporary metropolitan space that leads, during three weeks, to a collection of urban images, which can be followed through a 3D modeling of the city on a web interface. To operate this collection in the real, material city, the photographer follows instructions (word, sentence, coordinates, riddle, allusion, reference…) posted via SMS by members of the audience (players), and, in return, sends pictures via SMS to the interface, thus creating an inter-subjective urban representation based on the interaction of his own knowledge, vision and interpretation of the city with the ones of the players.

CITYSNAPPER_Game experiences the possibility for the photographer to work in real time, thanks to the use of IC technologies (cell phone of the second generation, SMS web servers and computer programming), and thus gives to the audience an immediate reading of its development, and a possibility to experience a navigation/walk in full immersion mode through this e.infocity.

Furthermore, members of the audience can become active partners of the project by contributing to build the artwork. They initiate the process and harvest the result at the end of it: they gather at the end of the performance in the welcoming space to fetch a print (signed by photographer) of the image they gave birth to.

Due to the use of a mass audience photographic device, the project doesn’t lead to the creation of a classical, high definition photographic artwork. The purpose is more here to use photography as a vector, a step in an interaction and exchange process between participants, going from the formulation of a query to its realization as a picture, and leading to an immediate and playful representation of the urban space.

For more information on CITYSNAPPER_Game, to follow it or to play with us, see www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper_game

For more information on Citysnapper/Observatoire_X project, see www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper
on the city of Montréal (CA),
www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper3
on Rotterdam (NL), and
www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper4
on Barcelona (ES).

https://www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper_game
https://www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper
https://www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper3
https://www.o-vanderaa.com/citysnapper4

iMAGE z[ONE]
Lab[au], space for reflection and experiment in cross-media projects, was set up in 1995 in Brussels and it played an important part in the development of the application sPACE, navigable music, which led to new applications for 3D environments, also creating links with musicians in the experimental electronic domain. iMAGE z[ONE] is an initiative by Olivier Vanderaa, in which he investigates two processes within the urbane surroundings: the physical construction (urbanisation) and the mental (social context). In order to solve the problem of how to process these characteristics and map them out the project Citysnapper/Observatoire X was set up to fit in large Western cities into an interface over a one-month period, visualising their urban, historical, economic, topographical and social characteristics. Thus Montréal was the first city to be involved in the project in 2003.

lab[au] II
Lab[au], space for reflection and experiment in cross-media projects, was set up in 1995 in Brussels and it played an important part in the development of the application sPACE, navigable music, which led to new applications for 3D environments, also creating links with musicians in the experimental electronic domain. iMAGE z[ONE] is an initiative by Olivier Vanderaa, in which he investigates two processes within the urbane surroundings: the physical construction (urbanisation) and the mental (social context). In order to solve the problem of how to process these characteristics and map them out the project Citysnapper/Observatoire X was set up to fit in large Western cities into an interface over a one-month period, visualising their urban, historical, economic, topographical and social characteristics. Thus Montréal was the first city to be involved in the project in 2003.

Ballroom
Daniel Gómez Marìn
Mauricio Medrano Castrillón
José Carlosiglesias Echeverri
Michel Heibig Vander Kerken

2004
multimedia installation

The objective of this system is the realisation of a midi-interface between a virtual and a real environment through quadraphonic sound and image. The audience can throw a sound, represented by a ball, at a projected digital environment. Wherever the ball (the sound) hits the projection it turns ‘virtual’: the direction and speed of the physical ball are adopted. As the physical ball bounces back from the surface of the projection, the virtual ball moves through the virtual environment, it creates images and sounds there by making contact with various responsive places on the walls of the virtual space. The physical environment is spotlighted with blacklight and the user can select between various virtual environments to produce varying shapes of sound. Each ‘level’ has a graphic appearance of its own, reminding of the first computer games or 3D effects in films, like ’Tron’ for instance.

https://www.ballroom.8m.com

Daniel Gómez Marín
Daniel Gómez Marín (1977) studied production engineering at the University of Medellín (Colombia), he works as a sound technician and made sound installations and soundtracks for several theatre pieces. Maurício Medrano Castrillón (1978) studied communication science in Guadalajara (Mexico) and he participated in several documentaries. José Carlosiglesias Echeverri (1975) studied photography and graphical design in Mexico City and he works, among others, as a freelance photographer. Michiel Helbig Vander Kerken (1977) studied ’design science’ at the Henri van de Velde Instituut in Antwerp and he participates in presentations for architect bureaus. They got acquainted in Spain, where they studied at the multimedia department of the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona.

B.E.C.O.M.I.N.G.
Stefaan Decostere
Cargo vzw

2004
multimedia

The project B.E.C.O.M.I.N.G. was initiated by Decostere and vzw CARGO and it responds to a T.V.-maker’s need to look out for another context and a media production approach of his own. The first step towards B.E.C.O.M.I.N.G. was the initiative Kindercargo, which put young internet users from all corners of the world, in schools, workshops and children’s hospitals, in touch with each other. Later on vzw CARGO also addressed (young) adults, trying to achieve the same results with the B.E.C.O.M.I.N.G. project as Kindercargo managed before. A professional team of scriptwriters and technical advisers accompanies the adolescents in a project which should ultimately result in a film. New media technology is used as an instrument for the adolescents to explore their own possibilities and personality. The participants adopt a new, web-only personality, virtual personality and test it against reality. Because the participants are expected to show serious commitment, the project also adopted a psychologist apart from the script experts. B.E.C.O.M.I.N.G. consists of various segments, among them a workshop, between the 30th of August and the 25th of September 2004 in Ostend, where the participants were introduced into media design methods for network environments; on the web as well as physically, in teams. Among the presented tools were multimedia, video, audio, web, wireless computing and communication. Another segment is mEYEtime, extending the target group of participants to city inhabitants, students and artists from various disciplines. Preparations are made as well for the development of the script for the fiction film Crimes of Becoming. The segments, still under preparation, development or already on show, can be found on the following websites: www.becomingproject.com, www.becoming.be, www.mEYEtime.be, www.becomingblog.be, www.cargoweb.org/becoming and www.cargoweb.org.. Collaborations were established between the Technische Universiteit in Delft, architectural department, the RITS (Brussels), iMAL (Brussels) and St. Joost academie in Breda.

https://www.cargoweb.org/forum

Stefaan Decostere
Stefaan Decostere studied at the RITCS in Brussels and from 1979 to 1998 he worked as a director and producer for the former BRTN, always keeping up a critical attitude towards the medium of television. Apart from being a documentary maker he also works as a video artist, a publicist, a curator and a web designer. As a designer he set up a number of projects, making use of his sites as platforms for analytical and critical considerations about the media. One of his platforms is cargoweb, by vzw CARGO (www.cargoweb.org/forum), arising from a database children can use to distribute their own audiovisual productions. The word ‘cargo’ in the website refers to the virtual environments members manage on the site. These are literally ‘transmitter worlds’. Cargoweb has an open and flexible structure and works better as more users log on, setting up a ‘cargo’ of their own. It is a long-term project and the goal is to enter into collaborations and connections within the virtual space, possibly leading to a distribution of virtual ideas and work in the end, all physical components finding the place where they belong. It is important to design the interface in such a way that, apart from being an attractive environment for the users to participate in cargoweb, it is also an interesting place to work for visitors with regards to new media.

.x-med-k.
f0AM
nadine
looking Glass

multimedia

https://www.nadine.be
https://www.lookingglass.be
https://f0.am

SHORTS #1: OUTLANDISH

Sat, 16 Oct 2004
14:15 - 15:18

Landslips
Antonin De Bemels

2004
video | 00:07:00 | col.
non spoken

A bleak and meagre landscape is scanned with the camera, quietly at first and almost photographically. After some time the camera starts moving and the compilation of rocks, sand and stones turns faster and faster. A while later a man tries to make his way over a mass of rocks, continuously shaking because of a digital effect as if an earthquake is taking place. Prod.: Antonin de Bemels

Antonin De Bemels
Antonin de Bemels (1975) combines various media and genres into an idiom of his own. His work stands midway between film, video art, dance and electronic music. Together with the American choreographer Bud Blumenthal he made three ‘videochoreographical’ films in which he experimented with ‘scrubbing’, an image manipulation similar to the scratching of a deejay, which he performs live as a veejay. His work has been shown all over the world, among others at the International Film Festival (Rotterdam), Dallas Video Festival, World Wide Video Festival (Amsterdam) ULTIMA (Oslo) and Moving Pictures (Toronto) and it won awards at, among other places, Audio-visual Creative Fair (Brussels), Springdance Cinema (Utrecht) and the Grand Prix International Video Danse (Paris).

The Taste of Koumiz
Xavier Christiaens

2003
video | 00:55:33 | b&w
spoken | russian | subtitles: english

Le Goût du Koumiz, Christiaens’ first feature film, is all about the consequences of the communist regime for nomadic tribes in the Russian province of Kyrgyzstan. The narrator saw how his father, the chief of a tribe, was deported in the thirties, becoming isolated from nomadic life. The images of the Kyrgyzstan countryside and its inhabitants are rendered in contrasting black-and-white and accompanied by dark violins. As a result the film predominantly breathes nostalgia. Le Goût du Koumiz is more of a poetical and melancholic account than a documentary in the usual sense.Prod.: Atouda

Xavier Christiaens
Xavier Christiaens (1963) studied at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique in Liège and he stayed in Paris for a couple of years, where he wrote various theatrical plays. He is also active as a screenplay writer and assistant-producer. Christiaens and works in Brussels.

Philippe de Pierpont
Maisha ni Karata, la Vie est un Jeu de Cartes

In 1991 De Pierpont met six young streetwise boys for the first time, living in a tight group in the streets of Bujumbura in Burundi. Later he returned twice to them, he followed the development, misfortunes and changes in the members of the group.

Sat, 16 Oct 2004
15:30 - 16:40

Maisha ni Karata, la Vie est un Jeu de Cartes
Philippe de Pierpont

2003
video | 01:10:00 | col.
spoken | kirundi, swahili | subtitles: french

In 1991 De Pierpont worked for the first time with six forward young boys, living in a tight group on the streets of Bujumbura in Burundi. In 1994 he went back to meet the six, after that it took almost ten years before he saw them again. In Maisha ni Karata images of the last encounters alternate with images from’91 and ’94. In that way the development, misfortune and changes in the members of the group are traced. The hardship of life in the streets literally and metaphorically left the boys, now in their twenties, with scars. Everybody went their own way, some of them are doing pretty fine, and others are still struggling every day with their lives.Prod.: WIP

Philippe de Pierpont
Philippe de Pierpont (1955) is a genuine jack-of-all-trades. He studied art history in Brussels and he worked as a scriptwriter for comic strips and films (among them L’Héritier, Belgium, 1998) and on various editions (Journal Burundais, Hors la Boxe). He teaches at the Atelier d’écriture documentaire, he collaborated on theatre plays and he makes documentaries as well as fiction. His work has been shown, among other places, at the Festival International de Télévision de Monte-Carlo and Festival Vues d’Afrique (Canada) and he has won several prizes in the process. Pierpont’s documentaries take an anthropological approach. He lives and works in Brussels.

SHORTS #2: MIRROR MIRROR

Sat, 16 Oct 2004
17:00 - 18:30

Sylvia Kristel - Paris
Manon De Boer

2003
video | 00:39:22 | col.
spoken | french | subtitles: french

Sylvia Kristel – Paris is a portrait of the Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who appeared in the erotic 70’s film series Emmanuelle. After a couple of minutes of blank film the actress appears onscreen, smoking a cigarette. As soon as she starts reminiscing about the early days of her career in Paris – when she was introduced into the Paris jet-set as a young and naïve girl -, recent 8 mm film images of this city slide past, immobile and objectively. The images contrast sharply with the lively and personal report by Sylvia Kristel. At the end of the story we see the actress again, smoking another cigarette, after which she gives the previous account all over again, again with images of contemporary Paris. Details have been changed, however, or left out, and some events which had previously hardly been hinted at, are now being discussed at large. By juxtaposing two interviews with Sylvia Kristel, actually recorded with an interval of several months, Manon de Boer visualises the relationship between the individual recollections of a time period (the seventies) and a location (Paris).Prod: Manon de Boer

Manon De Boer
Manon de Boer (1966) lives and works in Brussels and Amsterdam. She studied at the academy of Rotterdam and at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. In her video and film portraits she investigates the definition of identity through recordings of monologues by friends, family and acquaintances, in which time, space and recollections play an important part. The films by de Boer have been shown, among other places, at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau (Amsterdam), Raum Aktueller Kunst (Vienna), the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the International Documentary Film Festival in Marseille.

Meeting William Wilson
Koen Theys

2003
video | 00:49:40 | col.
spoken | english

A dramatised recording of a performance, put up during the opening of an exhibition in the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle. Theys, who has a twin brother himself, invited some eighty twins to linger in the empty exhibition space. As the camera is turning in slow-motion the astonished and at times downright bewildered reactions of the public is recorded as it comes in. In the background a man whispers a somewhat adapted story by Edgar Ellen Poe: Meeting William Wilson, about a man who is bothered by his mirror image that came to life. Prod: Koen Theys

Koen Theys
Koen Theys (1963) studied at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent and Film and Video at the Hoger St.-Lucas Instituut voor Beeldende Kunsten in Brussels. Apart from digitally edited videos he mainly makes photographical work as well, doing research on identity in relation to the image in general and the digital image specifically. In the process he often makes use of image material made by third parties. His films have been shown in a variety of places, like the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the American Museum of the Moving Image (New York), the Paleis van Schone Kunsten (Brussels) and SMAK (Gent).

SHORTS #3: MAKE BELIEVE

Sat, 16 Oct 2004
18:45 - 20:06

L’Aventure Ambigüe
Bernard Mulliez

2004
video | 00:21:10 |col.
spoken | french | subtitles: english

In L’Aventure Ambigüe a tourist outing culminates in a shroud of incomprehension and aggression. When Mulliez pays a visit to a project in the ‘The Rainforest’ zoo in Walloon Yvoir, which usually displays small exotic animals, some Pygmies are busy raising funds for their village in Cameroon. To this purpose they temporarily moved their authentic lifestyle to this Belgian zoo. Due to a misunderstanding Mulliez, in an attempt to evaluate the attitude of his own – Western– culture towards the cultures of the former Belgian colonies, is taken for a saboteur and a spy for the opponents of the ‘Opération Pygmées’, as the project was referred to, and ultimately he is removed from the park by force. Prod: Bernard Mulliez

Bernard Mulliez
Bernard Mulliez (1970) lives and works in Brussels, where he studied sculpture at La Chambre. In 1994 he spent nine months with the ‘Lobi’ (Burkina Faso) to do research on the function of domestic sculpture in this tribe. Since 1995 Mulliez has been making films, often with a focus on admiration and curiosity for social relations. His projects have been shown, among other places, at Cinema Nova and the Moving Art Studio (Brussels), and during the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Puma, one year later
Koen Wastijn

2004
video | 00:30:00 | col.
spoken | french | subtitles: english

Puma, one year later is the second part of the film Puma, in which a dead puma is stuffed and mounted in the same jumping position as the puma of the sports brand ‘Puma’. Wastijn contacted the owner of the puma, Lionel, a large feline trainer with a French circus. In Puma, one year later he visits this animal tamer and he recorded the intimate and fond relationship the man has with his animals as a comment on the critcism against the keeping of animals in captivity for entertainment. The video is a documentary, following Lionel in his daily activities around the great cats and in the circus. Prod.: Koen Wastijn

Kingelez : a city rethought
Dirk Dumon

2003
video | 00:30:00 | col.
spoken | french | subtitles: dutch

Congolese artist Kingelez (1948) works in Kinshasa on models, which are all utopian cities in their own respect. The cities are visions of an ideal Kinshasa, an improved New York or cities who do not even exist yet, full of colourful and strangely shaped buildings – and mainly skyscrapers – their shape fit to their purpose. Because of the exuberant design and the use of plastic, as well as food wrappings and labels, the models are similar to the sets for any science-fiction film from the 50s. Dumon portrays Kingelez as a driven and serious artist propagating a highly personal vision on the modern city, almost out of proper necessity. Prod.: Piksa

Dirk Dumon
Dirk Dumon (1943) studied at the RITCS film academy in Brussels and he worked for the former BRTN (now VRT). He made some fifty documentaries, focussing for the most part on the sociological, anthropological and cultural-scientific, with an emphasis on the Third World. He has worked with various foreign TV-stations and his work has been shown, among others, on the Belgian, German, American, French and various African networks.

Joëlle Tuerlinckx
CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés ‘24 SPACE THESIS’ # 1

The work CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés contains the material for the exhibition with the same name at The Renaissance Society Chicago and it consists in a study of the building. In the film Tuerlinckx thematically investigates the tiles of the floors, the empty spaces between pens, pencils, behind plants, shadows, incidence of light and all other elements which are unnoticeably relevant to the three dimensions of this world.

Sat, 16 Oct 2004
22:00 - 23:40

CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés ‘24 SPACE THESIS’
Joëlle Tuerlinckx

2003
video | 10:01:00 | col.
non spoken

The work CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés contains the material for the exhibition with the same name at The Renaissance Society Chicago and it consists in a study of the building. In the film Tuerlinckx thematically investigates the tiles of the floors, the empty spaces between pens, pencils, behind plants, shadows, incidence of light and all other elements which are unnoticeably relevant to the three dimensions of this world. prod.: Joëlle Tuerlinckx/argos/the Renaissance Society

Joëlle Tuerlinckx
Joëlle Tuerlinckx (1958) uses her films to record intervals between two points, an environment which can take up several realities and they are often shown in relation to a spatial intervention. Her work balances on the verge of ‘nothing’, and sometimes it is hardly recognisable as art, among others because of the use of cheap, fragile materials and the minimal presentation. Nevertheless her work deals with art, with the realisation of a work and the relationship between seeing and being. Tuerlinckx considers herself a painter, but her body of work comprises drawings, artist’s books, videos, graphics and objects, and in exhibitions (‘machines’) these elements are composed into a composition of the space between things, the virtual environment seemingly piercing through to reality. Her work has been shown, among others, at Documenta 11, Manifesta 4, The Renaissance Society (Chicago) and SMAK (Gent). She lives and works in Brussels.

SHORTS #4: FATA MORGANA’S

Sun, 17 Oct 2004
14:15 - 15:21

La fille qui ne ferme jamais les yeux
Nicolas Dufranne

2004
video | 00:03:30 | col.
non spoken

In La fille qui ne ferme jamais les yeux we see a big-eyed girl staring into the camera for over three minutes without blinking once. Or could it be that she is closing her eyes on exactly the same moment as the viewer? Prod.: Nicolas Dufranne

Nicolas Dufranne
Nicolas Dufranne (1977) studied audiovisual arts at Brussels’ La Cambre. He has developed a personal style in his video work, a combination of photographical and computer animated tableaux vivants, telling the story of human relations in a dark way and at a slow pace of their own, without any specification of time or place. His work has been shown, among other places, at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage in Oberhausen, the Image Film Festival in Toronto and Art Brussels. Dufranne lives and works in Brussels.

Audax
Bernard Gigounon

2004
video | 00:04:30 | col.
non spoken

A ship, filmed from above, is slowly moving through the image: the bow, the deck, and the metal cover plates. As soon as the camera arrives at the load, however, consisting of sand and stones, something weird happens: the load turns into a Martian landscape, it seems as if the camera is transforming into a satellite, exploring some barren planet. Also the sound suddenly seems to have been taken directly from a science fiction film. Prod: Bernard Gigounon

Bernard Gigounon
Bernard Gigounon (1972) works and lives in Brussels. Making use of limited technologies and seemingly trivial material, he usually unveils poetical and subtle miniatures. His videos have been shown, among others, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Videolab Festival (Turin), the Galerie des Beaux Arts (Marseille) and the Courtisane Festival in Gent.

The Witch
Rafaël

2003
video | 00:02:50 | col.
non spoken

In The Witch a little boy abandons an apartment and as soon as he is gone the plants begin to communicate with each other by energeticly shaking their leaves. When the boy comes back it’s as if nothing has changed. Prod.: Rafaël

Le rêve de Baptiste
Rafaël

2003
video | 00:07:08 | col.
non spoken

Le rêve de Baptiste is a nightmarish story, in which a young woman plays the lead. In spite of the rhythmical, nervous editing the film does not have any sound, apart from some hysterical screaming towards the end of the film. All the images are processed in the computer, the colours have been altered, for instance, there are digital zooms and the transitions between the images have often been realised with a stroboscope effect. Rafaël plays around with contrast in the photographical images, in which he relates rose petals to the suggestion of a bleeding mouth. prod.: Rafaël

Rafaël
Rafaël (1975) was born in Spain and he lives and works in Brussels. He has worked as a live video performer and VJ, but his main occupation is photography. Important subjects in his work are the things around him; his girlfriend, his son and even trivial objects like his coffeepot. The photography and video images are processed with a computer into rhythmical sequences. Rafaël’s work has been shown, among others, at the Bochumer Videofestival and Videoformes (Clermont-Ferrand).

Vaporetto, lento ma non troppo
Sylvie Janssens de Bisthoven

2004
video | 00:03:00 | col.
non spoken

A sequence of short scenes in which the hands of a child are shown, resting on the railing of a sailing Venetian Vaporetto (a motorboat). The images are separated from one another through several seconds of black screen with the noise of the engine in the background. In each chapter the position of the child’s hands changes unnoticeably and it seems the spontaneous movements turn into well-considered gestures. Prod: Sylvie Janssens de Bisthoven

Sylvie Janssens de Bisthoven
Sylvie Janssens de Bisthoven (1964) lives and works in Brussels. In her painting, drawing and video work and installations she processes the fragility and intensity of the moment when an idea takes shape. Thematically she explores the notion of separation, the distance between different objects and discourses. Her work has been shown, among others, at Archetype gallery (Brussels), the Biennial of Louvain-La-Neuve, the gallery of Annie Gentils (Antwerp) and the Centre des Brasseurs (Liège).

Aqua Micans
François Ducat

2004
video | 00:05:21 | col.
spoken | english

Aqua Micans is a homage to the writer Raymond Roussel (1877 – 1933) and his novel Locus Solus, in which a fluid is invented, containing so much oxygen that living creatures can breathe in it and the dead can be reanimated. In the novel the dancer Faustine, her hairless cat Khóng-dek lèn and the revived head of the revolutionary Danton, who died at the guillotine, come to life. A voice-over reads lines from the book, meanwhile the dancer elegantly moves through the water and the cat with no hair appears on screen, to disappear again afterwards. The decapitated head hangs from hoses on screen and it is even still talking, albeit unintelligibly. With collage-like video techniques the persons are put into a tank with yellow fluid, the sounds are hollow, like in a submarine. Aqua Micans was made for the exhibition ‘An archeology of imaginary media’, held at De Balie (Amsterdam) in February 2004. Prod.: François Ducat

François Ducat
François Ducat (1963) studied at the art academy of Saint-Etienne in France and the INSAS in Brussels, where he was active as a director and producer – among others for AJC! in Brussels. He makes documentaries as well as fiction and also devotes himself to various multimedia projects, among them a CD-ROM project which is connected with improvised music: ‘Kew Rhône’. Ducat also works as a comic artist and writer, for which he often draws inspiration from (classic) literature. Ducat’s work has been shown, among others, on RTBF and TV5 and in De Balie in Amsterdam.

How about that
Stéphane Aubier
Vincent Patar

2004
video | 00:03:00 | col.
spoken | english

The video clip for the guitar song How about that by Icelandic musician Gilsi is a cosy and hectic animation with plastic puppets and objects, during which a camping ride results in a concert, even enjoyed by the animals from and around the woods.Prod.: La Parti

Stéphane Aubier
Aubier (1965) and Patar (1965) studied visual arts at La Cambre, where they had previously been engaged in animation sequences, and they spent some time in Disney animation-training in the U.S.. Since 1988 they have been working together in the Pic Pic André studios, where they have made a number of extremely successful animations, among them the Pic Pic André Shoow. Aubier and Patar make use of various animation techniques; apart from drawings, made in a comic-like style, they also work on puppets and objects moulded from non-hardening clay (plasticine). Their work has been presented during festivals over the whole world and has won a number of prizes, including the prize awarded by the public of the Media Festival in Namur and the Festival of Brussels. Aubier and Patar live and work in Brussels.

Voyage autour de la Mer Noire
Sophie Nys

2003
video | 00:10:22 | col.
non spoken

In the travel report Voyage autour de la Mer Noire Nys makes use of the spherical aesthetics of film in contrast of the digital media she usually works with, creating an impression in the work that time does not exist in the places she visited around the Black Sea. Water images, seagulls and surrounding nature take turns with the post-communist industrial and urban landscape. The graphic use of colours is supported by a piano piece from 1908, by Arthur Lourié. Prod.: Sophie Nys

Sophie Nys
For her work Sophie Nys (1974) gets in narrow touch with herself. Her videos are equally impulsive as disarming observations and self-portraits. They’re brief instances, in which she rashly and playfully explores the possibilities of digital photography and video, pointing her lens towards herself on more than one occasion. The camera records and incites, it is both a companion and an ally, a toy and a playmate. On a regular basis she sets up Video Shows, for which she combines her pictures with compositions or everyday representations into a video presentation. Nys studied visual arts at Sint-Lukas in Gent and obtained her postgraduate degree from the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. She lives and works in Brussels.

Lacs Alpins Suisses
Tommy Simoens
Tim Ryckaert
Adina Balog

2004
video | 00:16:00 | col. & b&w
non spoken

The video Lacs Alpins Suisses is made for the exhibition ‘The pleasure of mapping’ and it is the final result of a project in which Simoens was looking in collaboration KULeuven for the possibilities of coinciding theoretical with artistic research. In the video dozens of blurry pictures appear of rocky mountains, reproduced from books on the Swiss Alps and their snowy peaks. The images, at times hardly any different one from the other, gradually fade into each other in some cases, but in others they follow without transition. The film is divided by 23 wide-ranging terms like ‘The fading image’, ‘Sonic Youth – as themselves’ and ‘The memory of an exhibition’, apparently without coherence, arising from a personal choice. Prod.: Tommy Simoens

Filigranes
Robert Suermondt

2004
video | 00:14:00 | col.
non spoken

In Filigranes series of images follow each other in twos. Suermondt brought together two-sided images from magazines and newspapers, and he made use of the watermark principle to allow the backside of the image to shimmer through on the front, resulting in relatively random combinations of images. The order and choice of the pictures was realised intuitively. In spite of the fact that most images have nothing to do with each other, they still enter into a relationship with one another. This disappears again when the light in the back diminishes. Prod.: Robert Suermondt

Robert Suermondt
Robert Suermondt (1961) studied at the Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Visuels in Genève and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam and he teaches at the Piet Zwart Instituut in Rotterdam. His work consists of films, paintings and installations, often dealing with anonymous spaces used as a passage, like subway stations, waiting rooms and airports. Making personal use of colour and contrast Suermondt shares his views on the filmic qualities of these non-environments with the spectator. His work has been shown, among others, at the Internationale Filmfestival Rotterdam, Videonale (Bonn), the Video Room Video Festival (New York) and the Bonnefanten Museum (Maastricht). He lives and works in Brussels.

Joëlle Tuerlinckx
CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés ‘24 SPACE THESIS’ #2

The work CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés contains the material for the exhibition with the same name at The Renaissance Society Chicago and it consists in a study of the building. In the film Tuerlinckx thematically investigates the tiles of the floors, the empty spaces between pens, pencils, behind plants, shadows, incidence of light and all other elements which are unnoticeably relevant to the three dimensions of this world.

Sun, 17 Oct 2004
15:45 - 17:25

CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés ‘24 SPACE THESIS’
Joëlle Tuerlinckx

2003
video | 10:01:00 | col.
non spoken

The work CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés contains the material for the exhibition with the same name at The Renaissance Society Chicago and it consists in a study of the building. In the film Tuerlinckx thematically investigates the tiles of the floors, the empty spaces between pens, pencils, behind plants, shadows, incidence of light and all other elements which are unnoticeably relevant to the three dimensions of this world. prod.: Joëlle Tuerlinckx/argos/the Renaissance Society

Joëlle Tuerlinckx
Joëlle Tuerlinckx (1958) uses her films to record intervals between two points, an environment which can take up several realities and they are often shown in relation to a spatial intervention. Her work balances on the verge of ‘nothing’, and sometimes it is hardly recognisable as art, among others because of the use of cheap, fragile materials and the minimal presentation. Nevertheless her work deals with art, with the realisation of a work and the relationship between seeing and being. Tuerlinckx considers herself a painter, but her body of work comprises drawings, artist’s books, videos, graphics and objects, and in exhibitions (‘machines’) these elements are composed into a composition of the space between things, the virtual environment seemingly piercing through to reality. Her work has been shown, among others, at Documenta 11, Manifesta 4, The Renaissance Society (Chicago) and SMAK (Gent). She lives and works in Brussels.

SHORTS #5: TRAVELOGUES

Sun, 17 Oct 2004
17:45 - 19:00

Advise to Iraki People
Jean-Philippe Convert

2004
video | 00:09:51 | col.
spoken | english

The film material of Advise to Iraki People originates in the relatively peaceful Iraq of 1998. As the camera is filming from a car, which is driving through Baghdad, a voice-over reads a text in which general advice is given on the safety of children in and around the house – keep sharp objects away from the hands of children, watch out that the child does not slip, drown or suddenly cross the street.Prod.: Halles the Schaarbeek & Beursschouwburg

Jean-Philippe Convert
Jean-Philippe Convert (1972) was born in France and he studied philosophy in Toulouse. After a number of years in education he applied himself to the writing of fictional stories and the making of video films. Important subjects in his work are the dangers and the consequences of chasing behind a global utopia and the degree to which our image of reality is shaped by the media or reporting by regimes. Convert lives and works in Brussels.

Rétroviseurs
Laurent van Lancker

2004
video | 00:28:30 | col.
spoken | french

Retroviseurs is a report of a drive in a car through the urbane landscape of Dakar to the rural Kolda. The camera films the passing landscape and its passengers from the car, discussing the long travel hours, daydreaming and philosophising on African cinema, politics, religion and colonialism. Within the tiny confinement of an ordinary car opinions are exchanged, viewpoints are justified and the world is discussed. Prod.: Atelier Graphoui

Laurent van Lancker
Laurent van Lancker (1969) studied directing at the Institut des Arts the Diffusion (IAD) in Brussels and Oriental and African studies at the University of London. His body of work mainly consists of impressionist documentaries on identity and ethnicity. His films have been shown during various international festivals and they have been awarded, among others, with the Basil Wright Film Prize of the RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film in Durham and the Youth Award at the Festival Cinéma d’Asie in Vesoul. Van Lancker lives and works in Brussels.

Gas Station
Luc Vrijdaghs

2003
video | 00:35:00 | col.
spoken | english

Gas Station consists of a series of portraits of gas station owners in remote areas along provincial roads. In South-Africa, in the village of Skeerpoort 83 miles outside Johannesburg, Gert Knoetze has been running a gas station for years, along with a tiny garage and a community centre. The problems with armed customers are discussed and the bad living circumstances of the black population. Along a provincial road, 56 miles South of Dublin Eddy d’Arcy’s gas station might be found, established by him in 1966 and at 70 years of age he manages it by himself. Apart from the regulars who come in for fuel and his garage, he hardly has any customers because the big stations along the motorways are too competitive, with their stores and bakeries. The style of the films is casual; the encounters with the men appear to have come about by coincidence and they are recorded almost as if in passing. Prod.: CCCP

Luc Vrijdaghs
After his training in sculpting and animation at the Koninklijke Academies voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp and Ghent Luc Vrijdaghs (1965) has worked as a set-designer, editor and as a director for various TV-commercials (among them Proximus and Mobistar), music videos for, amongst others, Admiral Freebee and TV-programmes like ‘Man bijt hond’ and ‘Volle Maan’. Vrijdaghs lives and works in Brussels.

SHORTS #6: REMEMBER

Sun, 17 Oct 2004
19:15 - 20:43

Mentaal Metaal
Gabriel Lester

2003
video | 00:25:00 | col.
spoken | dutch

Mentaal metaal is a video account of a project in which Lester investigates a fallow piece of land with metal detectors. The ground is part of a psychiatric institution and the patients help out with the localisation of metal objects and digging them up from the ground. Each object – a tin, a box, even a gun – is carefully cleaned and put into a plastic bag. Afterwards all of the objects are investigated, discussed and later incorporated into an exhibition in the psychiatric institute. The whole trajectory might be perceived as a metaphor, the excavations functioning as psychiatric research, in which the doctors and therapists burrow around in the minds of the patients. Prod.: Gabriel Lester

Gabriel Lester
After his studies at the St. Joost Academie in Breda, the St. Lukas Academie in Brussels and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam, Gabriel Lester (1972) was an artist in residence in IASPIS (Stockholm) and ISCP (New York). He works with various media, such as installations, performances, film and video. His works often consist of abstract or associative stories, inspired by cinema, supported by music and with literary insight. Apart from being an artist Lester is a guest lecturer at various academies, a curator and author of numerous scripts and articles. His work has been presented, among others at De Appel (Amsterdam), in the Haags Gemeente Museum (The Hague), Platform (Istanbul) and Galerie du Jour - Agnes b (Paris). He lives and works in Brussels and New York.

histoire(s) – sur les Traces du Jeune Homme et la Mort
Olga De Soto

2004
video | 01:03:00 | col.
spoken | french | subtitles: dutch

For the video Sur les traces du jeune homme et la mort Olga de Soto went on the lookout for spectators in the audience for the important dance performance Le Jeune Homme et la Mort by Jean Cocteau, carried out on 25 June 1946 at the Champs-Élysées Theatre in Paris. After an intensive quest she filmed a number of people who had attended the show, asking them to talk about all they can still remember about that performance. The recollections of the witnesses, by now of an advanced age, revive Cocteau’s work after 58 years. In the video these stories are split up by scene, juxtaposing the details of their stories. This results in an alternately clear and fragmented impression of this historic event.Prod.: ABAROA/Coto de Caza albl/KunstenFESTIVALdesARts/Centre National de la Danse – Pantin(photo de Grégoire Romefort)

Olga De Soto
After her dance training in Spain and France (at the CNDC, Angers) Olga de Soto (1970) worked as a dancer with the likes of Michèle-Anne De Mey and Felix Ruckert. Since 1992 she has been working in Brussels on choreographic research. Part of that is dedicated to the study of work by contemporary composers. Her first work was the solo dance Patios, quickly to be followed by a series of choreographies like Paumes and Eclats Mats. De Soto also works together with other artists (Boris Chamatz and Jerôme Bel) as a dancer and an assistant. She lives and works in Brussels.

Cailloux
Claude Cattelain

2003
video | 00:00:32 | col.
non spoken

In his work Claude Cattelain tries to catch the essence of the volatile. His video miniatures are flashes of amazement and fragility, staged at times, or noticed in passing. Impulsive, not without a sense of humour, Cattelain records an actual spatial escapism or emotional turning points. In an animation sequence in Cailloux a pile of stones tries to arrange itself in such a way that it reaches the top of the screen. Prod.: Claude Cattelain

Spider
Claude Cattelain

2003
video | 00:00:34 | col.
non spoken

In his work Claude Cattelain tries to catch the essence of the volatile. His video miniatures are flashes of amazement and fragility, staged at times, or noticed in passing. Impulsive, not without a sense of humour, Cattelain records an actual spatial escapism or emotional turning points. Spider may be best described as an interpretation of a nature film and a modest investigation into the human versus the animal physique.Prod.: Claude Cattelain

Tabourets
Claude Cattelain

2003
video | 00:01:00 | col.
non spoken

In his work Claude Cattelain tries to catch the essence of the volatile. His video miniatures are flashes of amazement and fragility, staged at times, or noticed in passing. Impulsive, not without a sense of humour, Cattelain records an actual spatial escapism or emotional turning points. In the video Tabourets, recorded in stop-motion, Cattelain undertakes several attempts to build a globelike shape with straight, edgy stools.Prod.: Claude Cattelain

Claude Cattelain
Claude Cattelain (1972) was born in Kinshasa and he works in Brussels and Valenciennes, where he founded l’Atelier, a school in painting and design. He writes children’s books and he experiments with various disciplines – painting, sculpting, and video art, aiming at notes of instability, fragility and escapism. His work has been shown at the Biennale de Liège, the Festival Jeune Création Paris and during the Island Art Film and Videofestival.

Sans Titre, 1958 – 2003
Ann Veronica Janssens

2003
video | 00:00:52 | b&w
non spoken

For this film Janssens made use of historical B/W film material about the demolition of a construction (the ‘Pijl’ - the Civil Engineering Pavilion) by the architect Jacques Moeschal, which had been set up in Brussels in 1958 on the occasion of the World Exhibit. Because of the way the material was edited – acceleration and reversal of the film in combination with marching music –the often misplaced and manic urge for renovation of the fifties, as opposed to the contemporary realism, is criticised and even ridiculed. Prod: Ann Veronica Janssens

Ann Veronica Janssens
Ann Veronica Janssens (1956) was born in England and she’s living in Brussels. Perception, experience, space, emptiness, time, (im-)materiality and infinity are the key notions of her minimally inspired work – sculptures, videos and installations. She often makes use of light, how it moves, is refracted or stopped. Her work has been shown, among others, during the Venice Biennial, MuHKA (Antwerp), the Neue National Galerie (Berlin), SMAK (Gent) and the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Poland.

Building
Anouk De Clercq

2003
video | 00:12:00 | b&w
non spoken

In Building sliding shapes in a graphical 3D animation style and contrasting black-and-white, suggest a building. Stairwells, pillars, windows, floors and ceilings emerge in the shadows. Lights sliding past reveal the architectural structure in fragments. The sound is the sound of night, the creaking, rustling and squeaking of an empty building. Building came about in collaboration with Anton Aeki, who made the music, and Joris Cool. It was inspired by the new Concertgebouw in Brugge, a design by the Belgian architectural firm Robbrecht and Daem, also responsible for the Boymans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam and the pavilions for Documenta IX in Kassel. Prod.: Concertgebouw Brugge

Anouk De Clercq
Anouk de Clerq (1971) studied film and video at Sint-Lukas in Brussels and she was active as an assistant to media artists Leslie Thornton, Walter Verdin and Ana Torfs. She investigates the relationship between image and sound, regularly making use of 3D animation in combination with electronic experimental music. In her video work, often based on abstract, utopian landscapes, De Clerq confronts various disciplines – text, music, architecture and graphics – and she regularly collaborates with other artists, with architect and audiovisual artist Joris Cool (1975) as her main collaborator. Her videos have been shown, among other places, at the Boston Centre for the Arts, the Hong Kong Art Centre, Centre Pompidou (Paris), the New York Film and Video Festival and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney). She lives and works in Brussels.

Set [ing]
Peter Downsbrough

2003
video | 00:04:19 | b&w
spoken | english, french

In Set [ing] the camera is situated in a closed, empty meeting room in an office building in the Paris business centre of La Défense. Using fluid camera movements the environment is explored and several relations emerge: between inside and out, horizontal and vertical, light and dark surfaces, between reflection and the scenery of the similar, high office buildings visible from the windows lining the room on one side. Short attention is paid to what takes place down in the street as well. The sound consists of fragments from an older audio work in which a woman pronounces words (numerals) in English and French.Prod.: City Works

As ] Then
Peter Downsbrough

2003
video | 00:09:20 | b&w
non spoken

In As ] Then static, photographical images are alternated with, among others, shots from a driving car. The recordings were partly made in the immediate surroundings of the former Wielemans-Ceuppens brewery in Brussels; the locations consist of building yards, the railroad, a crossroad and a railway viaduct. These images are linked to recordings made on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas. As ] Then, partly because of its use of words (AND, TO), reads as a special moment from the diary of the existence of a city and its transportation infrastructure: the number of building yards in Brussels is countless and Las Vegas is the fastest growing city in the United States. During the editing Downsbrough linked movement and sound. When the movement stops, the sound dies as well and both image and location pass into an apparent stand-by mode. The video was made for the WIELS! Exhibition as an assignment for the Centrum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Wielemans-Ceuppens Project. Prod.: Wielemans-Ceuppens Project

Untitled 5.03
Peter Downsbrough

2003
video | 00:14:21 | b&w
non spoken

During a period of almost fifteen minutes the camera explores the transhipment buildings, warehouses and silos belonging to the Werf- en Vlasnatie in the port of Antwerp in endless, mainly horizontal travellings from a driving car. The endless docks turn into a poetical labyrinth with railway containers and trucks, loading docks, pallet boards and goods. In these highly organised surroundings each deviant element, like a simple rock, turns into a conspicuous presence. Subtle contrasts between light and shadow, between volumes and voids, open and closed, grant a tension to this desolate place, accentuated by the tiniest movement (the shadow of a man, a driving truck, a sail bellying out because of the wind, a worker who is unshipping). Another contrast is constituted by a short, playful investigation of the surface and the lines of the road surface with the depth of a tunnel effect, obtained with a long, forward travelling in the dark inside the warehouse. Very slowly the exit – a square of light – comes closer. A man passes through the image. A while later the camera traces the perspective constituted by a long row of railway containers. The car stops, and after a couple of movements of the traffic far away the image fades. Prod.: City Works

Peter Downsbrough
Peter Downsbrough (1940) was born in New Jersey and he studied architecture and visual art in Cincinnati and New York. In his work, taking the shape of, among other things, sculpture, sketches, books, photography, film and video he uses minimal interventions to investigate (urban) space. Everyday shapes are observed, dissected and transformed; the order and disorder of architectural elements from daily reality is unbared. Downsbrough creates a link between language and space, managing to impose a clear orientation on an otherwise anonymous place. In his videos this almost tangible formal investigation into space between words and images comes forward as well. Furthermore this approach is interwoven with semiotics and linguistics, giving rise to reflective analysis and multiple interpretations. Downsbrough’s work, with his minimalist style and complex relations with architecture and typography, relates itself to such artistic movements as De Stijl or Bauhaus. Shape is reduced to lines and space, colours are only allowed very sparingly. With regards to content he distinguishes himself from his influences by merging various disciplines. One-man exhibitions took place, among others, at the Paleis van Schone Kunsten (Brussels), le Consortium (Dijon), the Neues Museum Weserburg (Bremen) and l’Espace de l’Art Concret (Mouans-Sartoux). Downsbrough lives and works in Brussels.

Temporary Display
Ronny Heiremans

2003
video | 00:08:06 | col
non spoken

Temporary Display is an account of the construction of a temporary platform at the bottom of Niagara Falls. Each year it is mounted in the same spot, only to be removed again because of wear and tear by the extreme circumstances. Because of the non-linear progress of the video it is impossible to distinguish whether the platform is mounted or rather pulled down. By juxtaposing two pieces of editing onscreen with shots from all sides of the activities Heiremans explores the architecture of the platform-to-be as well as the construction by the waterfalls themselves. Prod.: Ronny Heiremans

Ronny Heiremans
Ronny Heiremans (1962) lives and works in Brussels. He studied Germanic languages and literature, but his fascination for space, landscape and architecture is incorporated in his videos and installations, in which the notion of ‘displayment’ plays an important role. Part of his work consists of ‘tableaux vivants’, the result of his collaboration with Katleen Vermeir. Heiremans’ work was shown, among others, at the Fordham gallery (London), the Netwerk gallery (Alost) and STUK (Louvain).

Absent Minded
Wim Catrysse

2004
video | 00:09:32 | col.
non spoken

Absent Minded is situated in a space which is reminiscent of a factory workshop. The camera steadily revolves around two characters, who seem to be on the verge of entering into a fight. At first the two men hardly move, but after some time they enter into a bodily dialogue in an extreme slow-motion, with seemingly endlessly extensive movements. A normal speed public enters the workshop to see this ballet. Here the film refers to special effects, similar to those used in films like The Matrix to indicate the divide between the real world and a parallel universe.Prod.: Panache

Wim Catrysse
After his studies at Sint-Lukas in Gent Wim Catrysse (1973) studied at the HISK in Antwerp and The School of Arts in Glasgow. The films of Catrysse might be considered an investigation into the way the body relates to its surroundings. The work starts from simple deeds or actions, performed in self constructed or altered environments – often small in dimension. Apart from the ‘actors’ and the spectator the camera can almost be considered a third participant, because it is involved in the scene as a constructional element. Catrysse’s videos are also shown as installations, among others in the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam), during Belgian Art Now in Athens and at the SMAK in Gent. Catrysse lives and works in Antwerp.

Breakdown/Title Safe II #17
Karen Vanderborght

2004
video | 00:02:10 | col.
spoken | english

In Breakdown digital editing techniques such as morphing are used to bend, crush and transfigure a flat building into another building and back again. The soundtrack consists of a computer-generated voice, reciting lyrics from popular hits – like Santa Esmeralda’s ‘Don’t let me be misunderstood’. The work consists of a loop, produced for the project ‘Titlesafe II’ by Walter Verdin, during which he assigned a number of video artists to make a short film and edit it to a beat of 125 BPM or 12 frames per beat. Prod.: Walter Verdin/Corban

Karen Vanderborght
Karen Vanderborght (1973) studied at Sint-Lukas in Brussels, making installations as well as performances, film and video and she pops up in Brussels’ nightlife on a regular basis as a DJ and VJ. For her somewhat anarchist work she draws her inspiration mainly from cinema and electronic music. Her videos and films have been shown, among others, at the International Filmfestival Rotterdam, Impakt (Utrecht), the Centre d’Art Contemporain (Herouville), the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica and the European Media Art Festival (Osnabrück). Vanderborght lives and works in Brussels.

Jan Vromman
De stoel rechts van mij

De stoel rechts van mij consists of a selection of 43 sketches, notes and film shorts. Together they constitute a single work, which is part of the DVD-triptych De stoel waarop ik zit. Some of the scenes are merely notes, others are mini-documentaries of only a couple of minutes long.

Sun, 17 Oct 2004
22:30 - 00:09

In the presence of Jan Vromman

De stoel rechts van mij
Jan Vromman

2003
video | 01:39:00
spoken | dutch, french, english | subtitles: english

The collection of sketches, notes and film shorts De stoel rechts van mij constitutes a single work, part of the DVD-trilogy De stoel waarop ik zit, the other two works consisting of a selection from Vromman’s work from the 1982 – 2000 period and De wachtkamer, a project in which a drawing of meters and meters long is fed through a barrel organ. De stoel rechts van mij might be read as a 43 fragment diary and recorded during a four-month period in the summer of 2002. Some shorts are merely notes, a casually recorded act in the surroundings in which Vromman happened to find himself at the time. Other scenes are mini-documentaries of mere minutes, showing nothing but what is needed, and saying more than hour-long films. In spite of the diversity in styles and subject matter the films in De stoel rechts van mij display great unity and the universe of Vromman is presented more and more clearly with each chapter. Prod.: argos

Jan Vromman
The work of Jan Vromman (1958) arises from a personal need to tell stories, in which he often recognizes and appreciates the importance of tiny and everyday events. This makes him into a chronicler, a historian, a poet, an artist of, for and with the people (of Belgium). His work consists of documentaries, film shorts and written accounts, expressing a discerning sense of humour and respect for everything alive. Vromman’s work also offers a sample of the urge to make art comprehensible and a resistance towards the sometimes theorizing and dictating art world. His work has been shown, among others, at the Videonale (Berlin), the IMZ (Toronto), the Festival Internacional de Cine Donostia (San Sebastiàn, Spain) and the World Wide Video Festival (Amsterdam). Jan Vromman lives and works in Brussels.

Devenir
Loredana Bianconi

In Devenir Loredana Bianconi follows around a 45-year-old friend on her uncertain job search. In a very sober, photographic film style the story is developed from the personal despair and courage of Bianconi’s friend to more general reflections on solitude, solidarity, age, beauty and good fortune.

Mon, 18 Oct 2004
14:15 - 15:35

Devenir
Loredana Bianconi

2004
video | 01:19:50 | col.
spoken | french

In Devenir Loredana Bianconi follows a 45-year-old friend on her precarious quest for a job. The story is developed from the individual desperation and courage of Bianconi’s friend towards broader reflections on loneliness, solidarity, age and old age, beauty, autonomy, happiness and the collective dreams of society. In an utterly sober, photographical style of filming fragile, brittle moments become apparent in this essay. Loredana Bianconi asks herself if it’s possible to hold on to your own identity in the competitive world of the jobseeker.Prod: Kamalalam

Loredana Bianconi
After her studies in applied art, Loredana Bianconi (1954) studied philosophy and literature at the University of Bologna and the Theatre school in that same city. Since she has collaborated on television broadcasts for the Italian RAI 3, working predominantly on documentary productions, which won her several awards (Video Réalité, Brussels, Prix Audiovisuel du documentaire 1998, Scam). Bianconi’s work often shows political and socially committed tendencies, in which she frequently refers to her Italian background. She lives and works in Brussels and Italy.

SHORTS #8: KILLING TIME

Mon, 18 Oct 2004
15:45 - 17:02

Studio Dancing II, III and IV
Sophie Nys

2003
video | 00:07:42 | col. & b&w
non spoken

The triptych Studio Dancing II, III and IV was recorded during a stay in New Mexico. In Studio Dancing II, Portrait I we see Nys dancing at an accelerated pace, in front of a huge window in an apartment, with a view of New Mexico behind it. In Studio Dancing III, Portrait III, Transatlantic sadness Nys dances in slow-motion to the gloomy Exit Music (For a Film) of Radiohead, while snatches of the lyrics appear on screen below. Studio Dancing IV, Portrait II is a B/W video without sound, in which Nys slowly dances about in her studio, with a Mexican cowboy hat on her head. Prod.: Sophie Nys

Sophie Nys
For her work Sophie Nys (1974) gets in narrow touch with herself. Her videos are equally impulsive as disarming observations and self-portraits. They’re brief instances, in which she rashly and playfully explores the possibilities of digital photography and video, pointing her lens towards herself on more than one occasion. The camera records and incites, it is both a companion and an ally, a toy and a playmate. On a regular basis she sets up Video Shows, for which she combines her pictures with compositions or everyday representations into a video presentation. Nys studied visual arts at Sint-Lukas in Gent and obtained her postgraduate degree from the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. She lives and works in Brussels.

Lying in Wait
Alice Evermore

2003
video | 00:09:45 | col.
non spoken | subtitles: english

Lying in Wait is a digital poem. The lines, written by Evermore, appear on-screen as a supplement to the photography of the Belgian artist Els van der Meersch, which has been converted to video. The pictures show abandoned buildings, bricked-in doors and empty rooms, while the narrator is trying to recover a bag of marbles, which she hid as a child in a house that is no longer there. Prod.: Alice Evermore

Alice Evermore
Alice Evermore (1970) studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and used to live in New York before she moved to Brussels. Since she started writing she has published a number of books on her own, like Études (2000), Incidental Music (2001) and The Resistance of Ether (2004). Her texts are frequently combined with music, video, installations and performances and are closely concerned with alienation, whereas her main characters are often uprooted personalities. Evermore collaborated on various projects in the Netwerkgalerie in Aalst and she performed during the Nachten in the Singel in Antwerp in 2003. Together with Harald Thys and Heidi Voet she worked on the puppet show The Magic Kingdom.

Ne dites pas à ma mère
Sarah Moon Howe

2003
video | 00:28:15 | col. & b&w
spoken | french

Ne dites pas à ma mère is Sarah Moon Howe’s personal account of the inaccessible world of strippers, in which she ended up at twenty-two, looking for her own definition of femininity. Starting from super8 B/W images, which she filmed during her career, and colour reconstructions the story is told in smooth diary style of friendships between strippers, the sense of power given to them by the watching men, a trip to the United States – the Mecca of striptease –, where the Miss Exotic World election is held, also attended by some ‘exotic dancers’ from the 50s. Prod.: Memento

Sarah Moon Howe
Sarah Moon Howe (1973) lives and works in Brussels. Ever since she was twenty-two years old she has worked as a stripper and filmed her environment with a super8 camera. Don’t tell my mother is her first film.

City Apt Mom
Peter Westenberg

2004
video | 00:12:00 | b&w
non spoken

The principal person in City Apt Mom is Westenberg’s aged mother, who has been living in the same apartment in Rotterdam. In her house nothing changes, time is standing still, while the seasons are changing, buildings are torn down and new ones are put in their place, and the world has plunged into the 21st century. Making use of B/W images of his mother, pottering about the house – making tea, watering the flowers – in combination with the piano music he uses Westenbergs film makes a nostalgic impression. Prod.: de Filmwerkplaats

Peter Westenberg
Peter Westenberg (1968) studied art history and archaeology at the Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam and painting and graphics at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Rotterdam. He does not merely work with video and film, but he makes installations as well, and he keeps busy with internet projects and interactive, narrative works. He is interested in identity and the tension between human desires and the daily routines. His work has been shown, among others, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Videoex (Zürich), and the Portobello Film Festival (London). Westenberg lives and works in Brussels and Rotterdam.

Wiel
Alexandra Crouwers

2004
video | 00:03:50 | col.
non spoken | english | subtitles: english

Wiel consists of a video loop of a Ferris wheel at the Antwerp fair. The camera films from the wheel, endlessly turning because of the loop and constantly running into the same events – the same screaming from other attractions, the same people crossing the street down below and night will never come. Two people are seated in the wheel, they never appear in frame, but their conversation is shown in subtitles. The text indicates one of them realises all the way through he is caught in the merry-go-round - in a time loop – and time and over and over he panics, only to forget this a little while later, as the other person enjoys the self-repeating view in blissful ignorance.Prod.: Alexandra Crouwers

Alexandra Crouwers
After her studies at the Academie voor Kunst en Vormgeving in Den Bosch in the Netherlands Alexandra Crouwers (1974) studied at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. Her work hovers between photography and computer imaging, but she also makes installations and videos, which are mostly used as part of an installation. Her work often contains references to (pseudo-) science, science fiction, cinema and literature. Crouwers’ work has been presented, among others, during Niet de kunstvlaai (Amsterdam), Videoex (Zürich), at De Fabriek (Eindhoven) and Paradiso (Amsterdam). She lives and works in Antwerp.

Retro el virtuala Realo
Pierre-Jean Gilooux

2003
video | 00:14:00 | col.
spoken | esperanto

Retro el virtuala Realo is a sequel to the film Lebe Wohl (2002), in which a tiny miner, by the name of Guss, was followed on his ramblings through Berlin in a world between dream and reality. In Retro we find Guss, trying to find a home in an unknown world. To this end he needs to adapt to the new society he ended up in, and he is learning the language that goes with it. The backgrounds are mysterious and the story is like a dream because of the unnatural digitally composed landscape. The emptiness and the silence are important elements in this careful and fantastic composition. Prod.: Pierre-Jean Giloux

Pierre-Jean Giloux
Pierre-Jean Giloux (born in 1965 in Mâcon, France) studied visual arts at the Academies of Lyon, Cheltenham and Marseille-Luming. He combines elements from photography, video and 3D animation into visual, imaginative ballads, their storylines often inspired by myth and legend. For them he works together with Lionel Marchetti (music) and Raphael Kuntz (3D). Their work has been shown, among others, at the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle (Lyon), the Centre Pompidou (Paris) and the Centre d’Art Contemporain (Meymac). Giloux lives and works in Brussels.

Paula Wink
Frédéric Gaillard

2004
video | 00:03:35 | col.
non spoken

With ‘Playground love’ by the band Air playing in the background, Gaillard dances with his camera in slow motion in front of a large canvas, almost like a painting at first sight, with the image of a young girl. Depending on the camera movements the girl opens or shuts one of her eyes, making it seem as if she is blinking – just like a hologram. Prod.: Frédéric Gaillard

Frédéric Gaillard
Frédéric Gaillard studied at the ERG in Brussels and he is active as a sculptor and designer of objects and installations. In his work mechanical elements take up an important place and he investigates natural phenomenon with irony. His videos often have a simple set-up; he makes use of a fixed camera point and a white background. Gaillard’s work has been presented, among other places, at the Marijke Scheurs gallery (Brussels), Passage de Retz (Paris) and the Fine Arts museum in Charleroi.


Erik Nerinckx
De glinstering van ruis

Mon, 18 Oct 2004
20:00 - 20:30

De glinstering van ruis Edition: Bruno Hard en ‘de verloren man’, 143 p., essay by Dirk Lauwaert

In the presence of Erik Nerinckx
Introduced by Willem Oorebeek

SHORTS #9: STILL LIVES

Mon, 18 Oct 2004
20:30 - 21:15

Ne plus aimer la neige
Isabelle Martin

2004
video | 00:09:00 | col.
spoken | french

In Ne plus aimer la neige Isabelle Martin investigates the feeling of emptiness a young woman experiences who stopped enjoying the things in her life which used to give her a feeling of satisfaction, in an extremely sensitive style. The aesthetics of the film are combined with the poetical and sometimes funny narration by the voice of Martin. Apart from the film, Ne plus aimer la neige also comes as an audio work and a written text. Prod.: Isabelle Martin

Isabelle Martin
Apart from shorts in 16mm film format Isabelle Martin (1978) also makes audio work, portraying various people through her written texts. She studied at the ERG and the INSAS in Brussels. Her work has been shown, among others, during the Kasseler Dokumentarfilm und Videofest, the Festival International du Film Indépendant (Brussels) and the Festival International du film de femmes in Dortmund. Martin lives and works in Brussel.

Another dresscode
Kurt D’Haeseleer
Canto Villa Varinia

2003
video | 00:09:57 | col.
silent

Another dresscode shows the same figure four times over, standing next to one another in the image, otherwise totally black. The movements of the figures are synchronous at times or mirrored and they are rendered at various speeds. The movement consists mainly of the upper body as it moves about, whereas the characters (Canto Vila Varinia four times) are turned with their back to the audience. Through the various expressions and the sequence of movements, d’Haeseleer edited a choreography of his own.Prod.: De filmfabriek

Kurt D’Haeseleer
Kurt d’Haeseleer (1974) studied modern history at K.U. Leuven and audiovisual arts at Sint-Lukas in Brussels, and he is part of the collective De Filmfabriek. His work contains a video clip-like visual idiom, making use of digital effects, often accelerated editing and the use of (electronic) music and text fragments. The images of urban landscapes and the people who move within them, often strongly digitally zoomed and blurry as a result, seem unrefined and dreamy at the same time. The work of d’Haeseleer has been shown, among others, at the World Wide Video Festival (Amsterdam), the International Film Festival (Rotterdam) the Transmediale Festival (Berlin) and Les Rencontres Internationales Paris – Berlin. He also made several videos for theatre performances. D’Haeseleer lives and works in Brussels and Bierbeek.

Canto Vila Varinia
Canto Vila Varinia (1976) was born in Santiago de Chile, where she studied dance. Later on she studied at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. She worked with Damaged Goods/Meg Stuart and Collect-if, a project with Emil Hrvtin and Bojana Cvejic.

De nos jours (dedans)
Marie José Burki

2004
video | 00:12:00 | col.
non spoken

In De nos jours (dedans) the camera slides over a copiously set table after dinner, in close-up. People sit silently around the table, keeping to themselves, but mainly the leftovers, the half-empty glasses and the empty wine bottles are filmed, like a still life, a reconstruction of European, Western civilisation. Masks, lying in between the service, suggest that only part of the personalities came to the surface; everybody played his or her part. Finally the shot ends with an older man, solitarily dancing by himself to Bob Dylan’s ‘Knocking on heaven’s door’, a song which is buried into the collective memory. Prod.: Marie José Burki

Marie José Burki
Marie José Burki (1961) was born in Switzerland and she lives and works in Brussels. She studied literature in Genève, where she also frequented the Ecole Supérieure d’Art Visuel. Her work mainly consists of video installations, often working with several projections in a single space, entering into a relationship or a dialogue with each other. Together the various images constitute a fragmentary story. Important and recurrent components in her work are food – in groups, like a dinner – and animals, often falling back, with regards to form as well as content, on the essence. Her films are literary, sober and without effect. Burki’s work has been presented, among others, at the Kunsthalle Bern, Camden Arts Centre (London), gallery Lehmann Maupin (New York) and galerie Nelson (Paris) and out in the open along the River Hudson (New York) and the Thames (London).

...unseen by the gardener
Marie-France Martin
Patricia Martin

2004
video | 00:12:45 | col.
spoken | english, french

Unseen by the gardener was made for the exhibition of ‘Tempered Ground’ at the Museum of Garden History in London and recorded in the gardens surrounding this museum, located in a medieval church. This spot, also still containing a burial ground, reminds of Hitchcock’s film ‘Vertigo’ about a man, so overtaken by the death of his wife, that he would do anything to shape another woman after his own image. In Unseen by the gardener scraps from the lines in ‘Vertigo’ are combined with a recipe for fig jam and whispered by two female voices. Meanwhile the image becomes almost supernaturally fairy-like because of the enchanting appearances of the Martin sisters. Similarly to more of their works they play with similarities – their clothes and hair are almost identical – and they duplicate themselves by applying photographical techniques to video. In the film we follow in the footsteps of the two sisters through the garden, past the church and the graveyard up to the top of the age-old church tower, recorded in their specific aesthetical, stylized and almost choreographic style, accentuated by the multiple use of slow-motion in the editing. Prod.: Matt Warnes

Marie-France Martin
Marie-France and Patricia Martin (1956) are identical twins. They grew up in Switzerland and after their plastic arts studies in Paris they ended up in Brussels. Their inevitable duality embraces each aspect of their common work. Making use of various media (sound, photography, video, literature) they investigate complex feminist and social topics. The style of their videos is elegant, feminine and quite theatrical and their work is perfectionist into every detail. They exhibited, among others, at the Danielle Arnaud gallery (London), the Museum of Garden History (London) and the Centre National de la Photographie (Paris).

The Resistance of Ether
Alice Evermore

2004
video | 00:18:43 | col.
spoken | english

The starting point for the video of The Resistance of Ether is constituted by three fragments from Evermore’s book by the same name. Lester McElroy has an almost autistic personality, his fantasies surpass reality. Despised by his father – an army officer – and overly protected by his mother, Lester grows up into a paranoid layabout TV-addict. The video is a depiction of Lester’s surroundings, his collection of labels with perfect little landscapes (the places he is longing for), or the dark spaces underneath the cupboards and the disfigured outside world, flowing straight into his brain through television. The musician Eavesdropper composed the electronic soundtrack, based on the gloomy atmosphere in Evermore’s lines. Prod: Alice Evermore

Alice Evermore
Alice Evermore (1970) studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and used to live in New York before she moved to Brussels. Since she started writing she has published a number of books on her own, like Études (2000), Incidental Music (2001) and The Resistance of Ether (2004). Her texts are frequently combined with music, video, installations and performances and are closely concerned with alienation, whereas her main characters are often uprooted personalities. Evermore collaborated on various projects in the Netwerkgalerie in Aalst and she performed during the Nachten in the Singel in Antwerp in 2003. Together with Harald Thys and Heidi Voet she worked on the puppet show The Magic Kingdom.

SHORTS #10: MERCY ME

Mon, 18 Oct 2004
22:45 - 23:51

The Way of the Cross
Robert Cash

2004
video | 00:36:00 | col.
non spoken

The Way of the Cross is a contemporary video variation on the Way of the Cross, as it is depicted in 14 stations on paintings in Christian churches. Cash’s Way of the Cross is taken by train, each platform where the train stops representing a scene from the Way of the Cross in a sober way – without making use of requisites or historical costumes. The dramatic aspect is stressed by the abandoning of the city, the painful falls and the emotional encounter between the main character, personifying Jesus, and his mother. Prod.: Michel the Wouters

Robert Cash
Robert Cash (1963) was born in Delft in the Netherlands and he studied at the Konklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp. Apart from short films and video he also makes paintings. A lot of Cash’s work is an adaptation or interpretation of existing icons. Making use of references to well-known images like porn films and performances by magicians his films gain a familiar aspect. Cash’ work has been shown at the Semana de Cine Experimental (Madrid), Cinema Nova (Brussels) and during the Second Alternative Film Festival in Bangkok.

Jeux Videos
Franck Beaubois

2003-2004
video | 00:26:46 | col.
spoken | french

Jeux Videos consists of 14 short sketches focussing on time, acceleration, deceleration and reversal of movement. The shorts are clever and pungent in their simplicity; the camera viewpoint remains static and the action is concise. Combining various editing techniques (including animation) these short performance-like miniatures get extra depth. Speed and inertia and the ease or unease of movements with the human body and objects are expertly studied and often recorded with a sense of humour.Prod.: Transition asbl

Franck Beaubois
Franck Beaubois (1967) studied at the École d’Arts in Caen and Avignon and he lectures at the Contact Improvisation in France Belgium and Italy for for professional and amateur dancers. He worked with the likes of Julyen Hamilton and Nancy Stark Smith. As a dancer he took part in various improvisation festivals and projects experimenting with interactive installations combined with dancing, ultimately resulting in the production of Jeux Videos. Beaubois lives and works in Brussels.

SHORTS #11: RETROSPECT

Tue, 19 Oct 2004
14:15 - 15:47

After years of walking
Sarah Vanagt

2003
video | 00:35:02 | col.
spoken | french, kinyarwanda | subtitles: english

At the start of After years of walking a historical and long-forgotten film from 1959, made by Belgian missionaries about their interpretation of the history of Rwanda, is brought back to that country by Vanagt and shown there. The incorrect ideas about racial distinctions between Hutus and Tutsis, as they are expressed in the film, were used further on as a cause of the civil war which lasted for many years, ultimately resulting in the genocide of 1994. Ever since the people of Rwanda have been trying to force themselves back into unity by means of discussions and trainings. Vanagt supplies an image of a country which has been caught up in the process of coping with its unreal, but violent history for ten years now. After years of walking was her graduation project for the National Film and Television School in London. Prod.: Sarah Vanagt

Sarah Vanagt
After her history studies at UFSIA in Antwerp and the University of Sussex, Sarah Vanagt (1976) studied in the ‘documentary’ department of the National Film and Television School in London. In her work she investigates how relevant archive material can be integrated into contemporary documentaries to put the historical context of specific subjects into perspective. In London she worked with young refugees, and in her films she also focuses on the life of children who are growing up in war territory. Vanagt’s films have been shown, among others, at the IDFA (Amsterdam), the Amnesty International Film Festival (West Hollywood), Tate Modern (London) and Les Ecrans Documentaires Val-de-Marne (Paris). She lives and works in Brussels.

Closed district
Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd

2004
video | 00:55:00 | b&w
spoken | french

The material for Closed District was recorded in 1996 in the South-Sudanese village of Mankien where Vandeweerd filmed the war, which has been lasting for thirty years in this area. Because of the despair and disillusion there, it took him until now to edit the images into a documentary, which is not merely about the war in Sudan, but about wars in general. Many of the people speaking in the film, civilians as well as military serving for the government, have died since in this war, less and less about ideologies and more and more about money and oil. Closed District is a pessimist (or realist) film. Its B/W images accentuate the fact that these images are by now eight years old, though they still haven’t entered into history. Prod.: GSARA

Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd
Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd (1970) worked as an assistant at the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels within the faculty of Philosophy and Literature, the Media Centre in Sénégal and the Insitut National des Arts in Dakar. Vandeweerd also operated as a programmer of the documentary festival Filmer à Tout Prix (Brussels). His films have been shown, among others, at the Festival International du Film francophone (Namur), Festival International du Film (Milan) and the Festival Cinéma du Réel de la France. Vandweerd’s documentaries mainly relate to political and social themes in Africa.

SHORTS #12: CINEMA CINEMA

Tue, 19 Oct 2004
16:00 - 17:27

Cadavre Exquis
Ronny Heiremans

2004
video installation | 00:12:00 | col.
spoken | dutch

In Cadavre Exquis, to be seen either as part of Heiremans’ film Temporary Display or Katleen Vermeir’s Cadavre Exquis – Brusselle Pierre Querut – a producer and B-film director from the 70s – is shown making a 35mm film in his basement. Before the film is finally introduced into the projector and played, a number of actions have to be performed, like gluing together broken parts and converting it to another reel, for instance. When the film is finally projected, it turns out to be a 25-year-old promotional film for a tourist outing to Niagara Falls in the U.S.. Prod.: Ronny Heiremans

Ronny Heiremans
Ronny Heiremans (1962) lives and works in Brussels. He studied Germanic languages and literature, but his fascination for space, landscape and architecture is incorporated in his videos and installations, in which the notion of ‘displayment’ plays an important role. Part of his work consists of ‘tableaux vivants’, the result of his collaboration with Katleen Vermeir. Heiremans’ work was shown, among others, at the Fordham gallery (London), the Netwerk gallery (Alost) and STUK (Louvain).

Cadavre Exquis, Brusselle part: 1
Katleen Vermeir

2003
video | 00:41:49 | col.
spoken | dutch | subtitles: english

In Cadavre Exquis, Brusselle part: 1 Vermeir maps out the city of Brussels by making a tour with Pierre Querut, a B movie and documentary director from the seventies, of lost film houses in the former film district of Brussels. As Querut recollects on that era, he is always conscious of the proximity of the camera and he never stops commenting on Vermeir’s style of filming. Kathleen Vermeir does not only visualise the lively film industry in Brussels, roughly between 1970 and 1980, but she has also made a personal and humorous portrait of Pierre Querut.Prod: LTD.ED.VZW

Katleen Vermeir
Katleen Vermeir (1973) lives and works in Brussels. She studied at Sint-Lukas in Ghent and the HISK in Antwerp and has participated in study projects in Tianjin (China), Amsterdam and New York. She is working on a series of studies, usually with her partner Ronny Heiremans (1962), around the invisible topographical traces of a city, as well as a series of ‘tableaux vivants’, video paintings identifying those universal aspects of human attitudes and architectural models. Her work has been shown, among others, at the Brakke Grond (Amsterdam), Paleis voor Schone Kunsten (Brussels), PS1 (New York) and STUK (Louvain).

Remake et Re-remake (1971-2004)
Jacques Lizène

2004
video | 00:17:11 | col.
non spoken

Remake et Re-remake (1971-2004) is a combination of the remakes of the films Bas des Murs from 1971 and Tentative the Sourir from 1973. The camera sets out by filming the lower side of the outside walls of houses, on the edge of the wall and the pavement, until Lizène’s shoes show up on screen. Then the camera rises until it ends up in front of his face, after which Lizène actually produces a hint of a smile. Similarly to most of his more recent remakes Lizène makes use of bizarre accelerated and repetitive editing, a self invented soundtrack and, of course, a dose of wayward humour.Prod.: Lizène

Jacques Lizène
Lizène (1946) lives and works in Liège and within Belgian surrealism his eccentric work can easily be categorised under a chapter of its own. He makes use of slogans like ‘Lizène – useless art’ and ‘Lizène, artist of mediocrity’ in his own carefree and funny style. Since 1979 Lizène has been producing remakes of his performance-like video work between 1971 and 1974.

SHORTS #13: SHIFT

Tue, 19 Oct 2004
17:45 - 19:03

De vergeetput
Jos De Gruyter
Harald Thys

2004
video | 00:25:00 | col.
non spoken

De Vergeetput is an observation of the vast basement compound of the arts centre De Singel in Antwerp, made at the instigation of curator Moritz Küng for the exhibition ‘Urban Dramas’. This exhibition displayed works in which the city was approached as a vehicle for fictitious as well as realistic stories. De Gruyter and Thys are in pursuit of a dramatic tension within the basement, where they filmed dark corners, unknown objects and bleak stairwells, and in which the people who work there are reduced to a domestic species, covered in plastic, seemingly occupied with incomprehensible and suspicious acts.Prod.: Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys

Jos De Gruyter
Jos de Gruyter (1965) studied at Sint-Lukas in Brussels and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. In his visual work, installations and videos, which he usually makes in collaboration with Harald, he uses his intractable sense of humour to outline situations and characters on the edge of alienation. His work has been shown, among others, at the Xavier Hufkens gallery (Brussels), the Beursschouwburg (Brussels), the CCCB (Barcelona) and the Irish Museum of modern Art in Dublin. De Gruyter lives and works in Brussels.

Harald Thys
Jos de Gruyter (1966) and Harald Thys (1965) both studied at Sint-Lukas in Brussels. After that De Gruyter studied at the Rijkacademie in Amsterdam, Thys continued his studies at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. In their work, consisting of installations and videos, alienating situations are outlined against a minimalist background, often drenched in a subtle and specific sense of humour. Characters are sentenced to reduced prototypical behaviour, void of their personality. With regards to editing, camera handling and requisites as well as dialogue they limit themselves to the bare necessities. The joint work of de Gruyter and Thys has been shown in places like the galerie EOF (Paris), de Singel (Antwerp), the Openluchtmuseum Middelheim (Antwerp) and the Kunsthalle Basel.

Kurzer Abriss – Small Rips
Ulrike Knorr

2003
video | 00:43:00 | col.
spoken | german | subtitles: english

Kurzer Abriss – Small Rips is a documentary on the ‘Niethammer Papierfabrik Kriebstein AG’, founded in 1856 and the hugest paper mill in the former DDR. Throughout the decades the company has managed to persist during the various political regimes in Germany and economic depressions. Knorr literally walks along with the various employees of the current mill, combining these images with objective, long photographical shots of the company building and the operational machinery. The opening shot is even of unexpected beauty. Prod.: AJC!

Ulrike Knorr
Ulrike Knorr (1978) was born in Dresden and she studied visual arts at La Cambre in Brussels. Her work is mainly documentary and it has been shown on the Festival International du Documentaire (Marseille), Filmer à Tout Prix (Brussels) and In Court in Spanish Taragona. Knorr lives and works in Brussel and Berlin.

Goeffroy de Volder
Les variations Kancheli

The epical work Les variations Kancheli is the last part of a triptych Geoffroy de Volder has been working on since 2001. The film is completely built around film and television clips of various origin. Because of the hypnotic editing and the slow pace of the film it does not take long before the spectator loses each sense of time.

Tue, 19 Oct 2004
21:30 - 23:30

Les variations Kancheli
Geoffroy De Volder

2003
video | 02:00:00 | col.
spoken | french

The epical work Les variations Kancheli is the last part of a triptych Geoffroy de Volder has been working on since 2001. The film is entirely built from film and television fragments of various origins and it is divided into two parts of four chapters each, supported by music. In the opening sequence (Avec le temps) of the first part Aria a space ship is shown as it takes off, on its way to the universe, but the rocket explodes without even leaving the atmosphere. For the most part Les variations Kancheli consists of nature recordings, among others thunderclouds, icebergs, volcanic eruptions and bizarre deep-sea animals. Due to the balanced hypnotic editing and the slow pace of the film the spectator soon loses every sense of time. An almost infinite multitude of images of improbable beauty pass by in an apotheosis of a discovery expedition. Prod.: Geoffroy de Volder

Geoffroy De Volder
Geoffroy de Volder (1964) studied painting and philosophy, and he teaches in the sculpting department at La Cambre and the paining department at the Academie in Molenbeek. De Volder’s video work often consists in the compilation of existing film and television material into a new story, often with themes such as death and love, independent of the linear scenario of the original images. De Volder’s work has been shown, among others, during Art Frankfurt, at Moving Art Studio (Brussels) and galerie Mercuri (Paris).

Patric Jean
La raison du plus fort

La raison du plus fort is a documentary in which Jean looks into the issues around poverty, crime and immigration in Europe, more specifically in four cities: Brussels, Amiens, Lyon and Marseille. He spent time in disconsolate banlieues, he filmed in prisons and met with people who are excluded from the ideal democracy of Europe.

Wed, 20 Oct 2004
14:15 - 15:39

La raison du plus fort
Patric Jean

2003
01:25:24 | col.
spoken | french | subtitles: english

La raison du plus fort is a documentary in which Jean investigates the issues surrounding poverty, crime and immigration in Europe on the basis of four cities: Brussels, Amiens, Lyon and Marseille. He spent time in disconsolate banlieues, where the inhabitants are often victims of social violence and unjust circumstances and he filmed in court and in jail. Jean tries to pass on a lesser known side of the European system, a system in a society which oppresses those who have been born on the ‘wrong’ side, the poor and the illiterate. His impressions contain many encounters with the people who are left out in the ideal democracy of Europe and they are an expression of a highly personal perspective on society here and now. Prod.: WIP

Patric Jean
Patric Jean (1968) studied at the Koninklijke Conservatorium in Brussels, literature at the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels and after that he studied at the INSAS. His documentary work is characterised by social consciousness, often shedding a light on the side of the underdog. His films have been shown in many places all over the world, Among them the Venice Biennial, the IDFA (Amsterdam) and RIDM (Montréal). His film Les enfants du borinage won the Canvas award during Viewpoint (Gent). Patric Jean lives and works in Brussels.

SHORTS #14: TIME ZONES

Wed, 20 Oct 2004
16:00 - 17:17

America’s army
Jos De Gruyter

2004
video | 00:30:00 | col.
spoken | dutch | subtitles: english

As the video America’s Army takes off we see how two brothers, Christoffel and Ryan, transport home their recently acquired computer. They spend the rest of the time totally isolated from the world in their attic, playing ‘America’s Army’, a computer game in which the player is recruted by the Special Forces of the American army. When it finally becomes clear that the boys are, virtually as well as in reality, unfit for a career as a soldier, they hurl themselves on a new computer game with total abandon; in it they race sports cars through empty streets. America’s Army was made at the instigation of the BRussells Tribunaal – a committee of artists, writers and intellectuals who speak out against the U.S. interventions in Iraq.Prod.: Jos de Gruyter

Jos De Gruyter
Jos de Gruyter (1965) studied at Sint-Lukas in Brussels and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. In his visual work, installations and videos, which he usually makes in collaboration with Harald, he uses his intractable sense of humour to outline situations and characters on the edge of alienation. His work has been shown, among others, at the Xavier Hufkens gallery (Brussels), the Beursschouwburg (Brussels), the CCCB (Barcelona) and the Irish Museum of modern Art in Dublin. De Gruyter lives and works in Brussels.

L’idée d’honorer le Nord
Alain Géronnez

2003
video | 00:47:11 | col.
spoken | french

The radio transmission The Idea of the North by the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, broadcast by the CBC in 1967, was at the origin of Géronnez’s film, which might be considered a remake. To Gould the North symbolized individuality and solitude, calm and serenity, all characteristics which he met himself. L’Idée d’honorer le Nord is an associative investigation into the notion and the geographical designation of the North and all of its characteristics in the form of a video poem, its lines mainly consisting of quotes recited by five speakers. They are alternated with sound clips from interviews or films on the likes of John Cage, Marcel Duchamp and Glenn Gould. The images consist of different layers of found-footage combined with proper material and photography. Prod.: RTBF & IMAL

Alain Géronnez
Alain Géronnez (1951) lives and works in Brussels and he teaches at l’École de Recherche Graphique in Brussels. Before Géronnez started exhibiting by himself in 1988 he was part of the Groupe 50/04 collective, with whom he made a series of artistic shorts. His work consists of photography, installations, performances and video. Géronnez mixes up all these media, and the multitude and the associative mutual connection between the various layers – the media he uses – are important elements. As a result his work might be read as a collage of ideas. His work has been shown, among other places, at the NICC and MuHKA in Antwerp, in the Ludwig museum (Budapest) and the Paleis van Schone Kunsten in Brussels.

Joëlle Tuerlinckx
CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés ‘24 SPACE THESIS’ #3

The work CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés contains the material for the exhibition with the same name at The Renaissance Society Chicago and it consists in a study of the building. In the film Tuerlinckx thematically investigates the tiles of the floors, the empty spaces between pens, pencils, behind plants, shadows, incidence of light and all other elements which are unnoticeably relevant to the three dimensions of this world.

Wed, 20 Oct 2004
18:30 - 20:00

CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés ‘24 SPACE THESIS’
Joêlle Tuerlinckx

2003
video | 10:01:00 | col.
non spoken

The work CHICAGO STUDIES: Les étants donnés contains the material for the exhibition with the same name at The Renaissance Society Chicago and it consists in a study of the building. In the film Tuerlinckx thematically investigates the tiles of the floors, the empty spaces between pens, pencils, behind plants, shadows, incidence of light and all other elements which are unnoticeably relevant to the three dimensions of this world. prod.: Joëlle Tuerlinckx/argos/the Renaissance Society

Joëlle Tuerlinckx
Joëlle Tuerlinckx (1958) uses her films to record intervals between two points, an environment which can take up several realities and they are often shown in relation to a spatial intervention. Her work balances on the verge of ‘nothing’, and sometimes it is hardly recognisable as art, among others because of the use of cheap, fragile materials and the minimal presentation. Nevertheless her work deals with art, with the realisation of a work and the relationship between seeing and being. Tuerlinckx considers herself a painter, but her body of work comprises drawings, artist’s books, videos, graphics and objects, and in exhibitions (‘machines’) these elements are composed into a composition of the space between things, the virtual environment seemingly piercing through to reality. Her work has been shown, among others, at Documenta 11, Manifesta 4, The Renaissance Society (Chicago) and SMAK (Gent). She lives and works in Brussels.

SHORTS #15: SOLILOQUIES

Wed, 20 Oct 2004
20:30 - 21:33

Cellule 719
Annik Leroy

2004
video | 00:14:30 | col.
spoken | french

In Cellule 719 there is hardly an image to be seen, sometimes we catch a glimpse of water in some corner, but for the most part this film is black. The lines appearing on-screen in grey are derived from ‘Ein brief Ulrike Meinhofs aus dem Toten Trakt’, a letter written by member of the RAF Ulrike Meinhof in 1972 when she had just been emprisoned. In 1976 she was found dead in her isolation cell with the number 719. From the lines an enormous disenchantment and signs of depression become apparent, but at the same time they have great poetical value. Because of the consistent blackness, the undefinable sound in the background and the concentration on the probing lines, the spectator penetrates into Meinhof’s head for over fourteen minutes. Prod.: Annik Leroy

Annik Leroy
Annik Leroy (1952) studied architecture and visual arts at La Cambre in Brussels and she is a professor at ERG (Ecole de recherche graphique) and Sint-Lukas (Brussels). Apart from documentaries and films she is also involved in photography. Her style is poetic, her films are often in B/W. Leroy’s work has been presented at, among others, the International Filmfestival Berlin and it won the award for best documentary during the Ann Arbor Film Festival (Michigan, USA). In 2002 her book Danube – Hölderlin was published with Editions La Part de l’Oeil. Leroy lives and works in Brussels.

François
Sven Augustijnen

2003
video | 00:22:50 | col.
spoken | dutch | subtitles: english

François constitutes, along with the film Johan, a purely documentary portrait of patients with aphasia. François, a middle-aged man, suffers from aphasia – memory lapses – and he has trouble finding the right words for simple expressions. In order to train his memory he undergoes various treatments in a hospital, among them speech therapy. During one of these sessions Augustijnen is present with his camera, filming François who keeps chattering incessantly to fill the gaps in his memory. The editing accentuates the unfocused and stammering line of thought of the aphasia patient.Prod.: Projections VZW

Sven Augustijnen
Sven Augustijnen (1970) studied at Sint-Lukas in Brussels and Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. In his videos he investigates – often with a generous dose of irony – the boundaries between fiction and reality, focusing on unexpected events from everyday life. He concentrates on making portraits, with the help of a wide range of genres and techniques – apart from his videos, for instance, he also published a newspaper of his own. His work has been shown, among others, at the World Wide Video Festival (Amsterdam), the MuHKA (Antwerp) and the Paleis voor Schone Kunsten (Brussels).

Muette
Eric Delayen

2003
video | 00:01:50 | col.
non spoken

In Muette a fragment from ‘Autodafé’ by Elias Canetti is read out without sound, only a mouth, filmed in close-up, appears onscreen. After this the sequence is repeated several times, re-editing the paragraph at each time to make up other sentences, and then it is scrambled again in silence, in such a way that nothing remains of the original fragment. Each component – chapter – is seperated by the image of a pile of paper pellets, in which the text is deconstructed three-dimensionally as well.Prod.: Erik Delayen

Wandering love
Eric Delayen

2004
video | 00:05:21 | col.
spoken | english

A woman sits on rocks by the waterside; she is seen from the back, smoking a cigarette. Below words appear onscreen, taken from intimate correspondence between the Irish writer James Joyce and his fiancée Nora. The fragmentary text is pronounced by a computer-generated male voice. This emotionless voice contrasts with the straightforward image of the woman, reminiscent of a holiday photo, a souvenir of a beloved one who is no longer near.Prod.: Erik Delayen

Wandering words
Eric Delayen

2004
video | 00:04:30 | col.
spoken | english | subtitles: english

The text covering the right hand side of the image word by word in Wandering Words is derived from chapter 10 ‘Wandering Rocks’ in James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’. The 3500 words are classified and pronounced according to a random system – based on ‘orphism’, a style developed by the French surrealist poet Apollinaire at the beginning of the 20th century – by 19 computer-generated voices, after the 19 protagonists in the book. The part on the left of the work is filled in parallel with 19 labyrinth-like, graphical shapes, slowly shifting until they ultimately end up at the same point.Prod.: Erik Delayen

Eric Delayen
After his studies at the arts academy in Dunquerque, Eric Delayen (1969) studied at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg and Art and Architecture at the Ecole Supérieure of Marseille. Apart from videos he mainly makes project-based site-specific installations, as well as drawings, photographs and objects. His universe is weird and poetical and his work oscillates between complementary elements: stability/instability, fragility/solidity, often making use of modern technologies, as yet rarely applied in art forms. Delayen’s work was presented, among others, at the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain (Liège), the Rockefeller Center (New York), and the 46th International Exposition (Hiroshima) and he has won such awards as the Young Artist Prize 2003 of the Parlement de la Communauté Française de Belgique. He lives and works in Liège.

SHORTS #16: INCANTATIONS

Thu, 21 Oct 2004
17:15 - 18:13

Untitled
Isabelle Nouzha
Stéphane Carlier

2004
video | 00:07:00 | col.
non spoken

With her typically nervous editing style Isabelle Nouzha came very close to the experience of a dream in Untitled. Scraps and fragments over a vague lapse of time show a girl climbing like a spider through wires, streched on a roof and in a forest between the trees. Piercing through these images we catch details of memories about other dreams, seemingly blood-soaked. It’s as if directly connecting links are built, between the dreaming brain and the screen, on which this film appears. Prod.: Isabelle Nouzha et Stéphanie Carlier

Isabelle Nouzha
Isabelle Nouzha (1976) was born in Strasbourg; she lived in Germany for a while and for the moment he is staying in Brussels, where she is studying at Sint-Lukas. Her installations and videos, for the most part made in super8, show a fascination for old surrealist and horror films, with topics like isolation and destruction. On occasion she collaborates with video maker Jennifer Debauche. In her videos Nouzha explores the dark, hidden corners of the human soul and she veils her phantasmagorias in an atmosphere, as obscure as it is intense. Filmed in grainy super8 images the visual design and the subject matter refer to early avant-garde film, German expressionist cinema by Fritz Lang and Robert Wiene and the surrealism of Luis Buñuel and David Lynch. Her completely suggestive, non-spoken film-noirs evoke an obsessive and fatalist world, populated by alienating characters. They are unheimisch fables, interwoven with whimsical textures and industrial soundscapes, imaginings of anxiety and confusion. The work of Nouzha has been presented, among other places at the Internationale Filmfestival Rotterdam, art-action (Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin) and Courtisane (Gent).

Oh dear...
Nicolas Provoost

2004
video | 00:01:00 | col.
non spoken

In Oh dear… the encounter between some children is rendered, driving around an indoor carting track, until they are detained by a young deer, standing in the middle of the trajectory. In spite of the concrete surroundings of the racetrack the atmosphere is unnaturally serene and the children display a blissful adulthood, highly unusual with children of that age – and often even with grown-ups. Prod.: Nicolas Provost

Nicolas Provost
After his studies in monumental/3D multimedia at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Gent, Nicolas Provost (1969) studied at the art academy in Bergen, Norway. His work balances between fiction, drama and art and it mainly consists of film shorts, in which he makes use of films of his own, as well as existing material, which he reedits and processes into a story of his own. Sound and music are very important and that is why he works with several musicians, like Köhn for instance. The work of Provost was presented, among others, at the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival (various locations in Utah, U.S.) and the Via Do Conde Filmfestival (Portugal). He lives and works in Antwerp.

Au quart de tour
Antonin De Bemels

2004
video | 00:06:00 | col.
non spoken

In Au quart de tour a character moves through a black image. Because of the musical editing in de Bemels’ typical stroboscope-like and fragmentary style it seems as if the character moves about hectically, though in reality he hardly moves foreward at all.Prod.: Antonin de Bemels

Antonin De Bemels
Antonin de Bemels (1975) combines various media and genres into an idiom of his own. His work stands midway between film, video art, dance and electronic music. Together with the American choreographer Bud Blumenthal he made three ‘videochoreographical’ films in which he experimented with ‘scrubbing’, an image manipulation similar to the scratching of a deejay, which he performs live as a veejay. His work has been shown all over the world, among others at the International Film Festival (Rotterdam), Dallas Video Festival, World Wide Video Festival (Amsterdam) ULTIMA (Oslo) and Moving Pictures (Toronto) and it won awards at, among other places, Audio-visual Creative Fair (Brussels), Springdance Cinema (Utrecht) and the Grand Prix International Video Danse (Paris).

Framed
Wim Catrysse

2004
video | 00:04:44 | col.
non spoken

In Framed four men try to stay upright in an environment, which is softly shaking like a train carriage. Apart from the men nothing can be distinguished in these surroundings, the four of them move as little as possible and they try to hold their positions.Prod.: Wim Catrysse

Wim Catrysse
After his studies at Sint-Lukas in Gent Wim Catrysse (1973) studied at the HISK in Antwerp and The School of Arts in Glasgow. The films of Catrysse might be considered an investigation into the way the body relates to its surroundings. The work starts from simple deeds or actions, performed in self constructed or altered environments – often small in dimension. Apart from the ‘actors’ and the spectator the camera can almost be considered a third participant, because it is involved in the scene as a constructional element. Catrysse’s videos are also shown as installations, among others in the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam), during Belgian Art Now in Athens and at the SMAK in Gent. Catrysse lives and works in Antwerp.

Kismet
Shelbatra Jashari

2003
video | 00:10:55 | b&w
non spoken

In Kismet – this word means ‘destiny’ in Turkish –Jashari comments on the notion of ‘woman’ by setting suggestive, pin-up-like images against women dressed in strict Islamic clothing. In crudely edited and contrasting B/W images Jashari tells a story in which women wage war and the defiant ‘Western’ woman is stoned by an Islamic fundamentalist group of women, after which they throw off their own dresses on the spot. Prod.: Shelbatra Jashari

Shelbatra Jashari
Shelbatra Jashari (1981) was born in Prishtina (Serbia) and studied at the Sint Lukas Hogeschool in Brussels. Her work has been shown during the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, Prendsçacourt! (Montréal) and the Courtisane festival in Gent, where she won the Distribution Award 2004. Jashari lives and works in Brussels.

In the meanwhile...
Bernard Gigounon

2004
video | 00:03:40 | col.
non spoken

In the Meanwhile is a slightly hysterical celebration of life with an appropriate soundtrack in a fairyland forest setting, rudely interrupted by a man who is looking for his personal harmony with nature in a most theatrical way. Prod: Bernard Gigounon

Bernard Gigounon
Bernard Gigounon (1972) works and lives in Brussels. Making use of limited technologies and seemingly trivial material, he usually unveils poetical and subtle miniatures. His videos have been shown, among others, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Videolab Festival (Turin), the Galerie des Beaux Arts (Marseille) and the Courtisane Festival in Gent.

Adam of Eva in het Paradijs
Anne Mie van Kerckhoven
Mauro Pawlowski

2004
video installation | 00:24:00 | col.
non spoken

The film Adam of Eva in het Paradijs is a combination of computer animation and video material set to music by Mauro Pawlowski. The images were made during a performance with a (participating) audience in an environment which reminds of a living room. Death, rebirth and adoration are the subjects of this dark performance, brought by Dennis Denijs and accompanied by Pawlowski and his guitar. The effect overkill and chaotic editing – images shifting over and through one another - insure a video clip-like and particularly hypnotic atmosphere. Prod.: Momu

Anne Mie van Kerckhoven
After her studies at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp Anne Mie van Kerckhoven (1951) has devoted herself since 1977 to the investigation into the integration of computer-generated effects in her work, and more specifically in her video films. In addition she draws and paints and she makes installations. Her uncompromising, often confrontational and amenable work often shows common grounds with chaos and physicality – even sadism, here and there. Her style is nervous and graphical; with a unique sense of aesthetics she combines various disciplines. Van Kerckhoven is attached to the Koninklijke Academie in Gent and she is an advisor for the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. In 2004 she won the Cultuurprijs voor Beeldende Kunsten of the Flemish Community. She lives and works in Antwerp.

Mauro Pawlowski Mauro Pawlowski (1971) is a musician and former singer of the band the Evil Superstars, who won Humo’s Rock Rally in 1994. He has made the music for various projects, among them a puppet theatre, and on a regular basis he appears in video clips and films.

SHORTS #17: CRITICAL SITUATIONS

Thu, 21 Oct 2004
18:30 - 19:45

In blood we trust
IBWT

2004
video | 00:13:13 | col.
spoken | french

The video In blood we trust records a project which consists of a performance, a sound installation and a video presentation, presented during the Venice Biennial. The performance took place during the opening of the exhibition and consisted of a small airplane which could be controlled from a distance, throwing out dollars over the heads of the audience. The sentence ‘In God we trust’ – normally to be seen on a dollar bill – was replaced by ‘In blood we trust’. The video shows the reaction of the audience, curiously grabbing after the dollars. The next day a sound installation could be heard, implying that a great number of jets flew over the Giardini on a warpath. The report of the performance was projected onto a big screen in a space on the Biennial grounds. Prod.: IBWT

IBWT
The Liege collective IBWT (In blood we trust) consists of three artists. Alain de Clerck (1967) is self-taught and works as a sculpturer, Emmanuel Dundic (1967) studied at the St. Lucas Academy of Liège, and so did Pablo Garcia Rubio (1963) who has exhibited, among others, at the Paleis van Schone Kunsten (Brussels), the Museée d’Art Moderne (Liège) and Documenta 11. The collective was founded in 2002 to carry out the project with the same name. Their work has been shown, among others, at the Venice Biennial and the Festival du Film d’Artiste (Liège).

La Société du Spectacle et ses Commentaires
Jan Bucquoy

2004
video | 01:01:00 | col.
spoken | french

La Société du Spectacle et ses Commentaires is the sixth and final part of Bucquoy’s cycle La Vie Sexuelles des Belges. The film was based on Guy Debord’s book La Société du Spectacle, a socially critical, anti-capitalist work from 1967, with ideas that have now become relevant again within the anti-globalisation movement. Bucquoy has a group of young people of both sexes read from this work, but slowly real life and reflections on love and humour take over from cult hero Debord’s theoretical revolutionary project.Prod.: Francis de Smet - Transatlantic Films

Jan Bucquoy
According to some Jan Bucquoy (1945) is one of the heirs of Belgian surrealism (he is the curator of a ‘panties museum’). He studied literature in Grenoble, philosophy in Gent, film directing in Brussels (INSAS) and political sciences in Strasbourg. His work – comprising feature films, comic strips, theatre and literature – is darkly satirical, with an added touch of anarchism. Bucquoy lives and works in Brussels.

Charley Case
(Entre)

(Entre) is the result of the reediting and processing of seven film shorts or chapters Case made in the 2001 – 2004 period. He travels around the world and toys around with the duality of the images, which he filmed, among others during the anti-globalisation marches in Europe and a stay in India.

Thu, 21 Oct 2004
20:00 - 21:21

(Entre)
Charley Case

2001-2004
video | 01:21:15 | col. & b&w
non spoken

(Entre) is the result of the reediting and processing of seven film shorts or chapters Case made in the 2001 – 2004 period. He travels around the world and toys around with the duality of the images, which he filmed, among others during the anti-globalisation marches in Europe and a stay in India.

Charley Case
Charley Case (1969) studied graphic design at La Cambre in Brussels and he made illustrations and designs for various international papers and projects. After collaborations with numerous groups of activists he worked independently but sometimes also together with the Sangam collective. He picks his medium – photography, film, painting, graphics or performance – depending on his ideas. His subject matter is often socially committed and rooted in conflict, between imagery and meaning, within a context and among people. Case’s work is not observational, but he is part of the world and its cultures. It is spiritual and at the same time it has a firm footing. His work has been shown, among other places, at Fifart Festival International du film sur l’art (Lausanne), the Dallas Video Festival and the MACBA in Barcelona.

SHORTS #18: ACTING OUT

Fri, 22 Oct 2004
15:30 - 16:58

Ego Sumo
Emilio Lopez-Menchero

2003
video | 00:05:10 | col.
non spoken

A major component in the work of Lopez-Menchero is the fact that he takes the identity of icons. This does not really mean he imitates them, but rather that he genuinely tries to become this person or icon. In this way he has been such people as Balzac, a cowboy, Picasso and the two criminals next to Jesus on the cross. In Ego Sumo Lopez-Menchero is seen as a Japanese Sumo wrestler, trying to fight his own image in the mirror. Prod.: Emilio Lopez-Menchero

Torero Torpedo
Emilio Lopez-Menchero

2004
video | 00:14:00 | col.
non spoken

A major component in the work of Lopez-Menchero is the fact that he takes the identity of icons. This does not really mean he imitates them, but rather that he genuinely tries to become this person or icon. In this way he has been such people as Balzac, a cowboy, Picasso and the two criminals next to Jesus on the cross. Torero/Torpedo is a recording of a performance by Lopez-Menchero during an event on the occasion of the 5-year existence of the SMAK, on the day a bicycle race is held at the door of this museum as well. Lopez-Menchero is a torero, stoically walking through the SMAK, with a so-called torpedo-bicycle (a bike with a back-pedalling brake, so without handbrakes) in his hand. The handlebars were replaced by a couple of great bull horns. The camera traces Lopez-Menchero while he takes a good look at the works in the exhibition. Afterwards he rides out of the building through the front doors, disappearing in the direction of the bicycle race. Prod.: Emilio Lopez-Menchero (photo Dirk Pauwels)

Emilio Lopez-Menchero
Emilio Lopez-Menchero (1960) lives and works in Brussels. He is a licensed architect and he studied visual arts at La Cambre in Brussels. With his projects– video, audio, performances and installations – he asks the question what the identity of the ‘artist’ is in society. He puts things into perspective and investigates the myths that go with it and in the process he likes to make use of existing icons from literature, music, cinema and even cartoons. His work has been shown, among others, at the SMAK (Gent), the Fondation pour l’Architecture (Brussels) and the Venice Biennial.

Without Appearances vol. 1
Messieurs Delmotte

2003
video | 00:14:25 | col.
non spoken

Without Appearances consists of a series of short portraits of people as they are stoically carrying out or undergoing a senseless act; a man is throwing vegetables into a small river, a woman is subjected to cracking firework. The camera hardly moves, no one speaks and the meaning of the absurd actions remains unclear. Prod.: Messieurs Delmotte

Real to real photography
Messieurs Delmotte

2003
video | 00:12:15 | col.
non spoken

In Real to real photography a young man is shown, among others, blowing a whistle. Furthermore the image of a woman onscreen is half covered, a man is bombarded with fruit, a woman smokes a cigarette without taking it from her mouth and a head disappears behind a mountain of whipped cream. The photography of this series of trivialities consists of static images and almost immobile actors.Prod.: Messieurs Delmotte

Tourist renouncement
Messieurs Delmotte

1995-2004
video | 00:18:48 | col.
non spoken

The video Tourist renouncement was originally recorded in 1995 in Togo, as part of the project ‘Afrikanisch-Europäische Inspiration’, set up by Togolese artist El Loko who was living in Germany. For two months eight artists from various countries in Europe and Africa worked on this cultural exchange. Delmotte filmed his actions, seeming like a grotesque interpretation of the historical relationships between the two continents. In his performances he plays the white man among other things, randily riding up a tree, later sawing down another with a theatrical gesture, then triumphantly shoving his pale behind in a mosquitoes’ nest. Tourist renouncement charicatures hypocritical European tourism, promising a paradise in Africa, whereas a large number of Africans, basing themselves on the same false delusions, chase after an ‘European dream’. The film has been re-edited, almost ten years after the material was filmed and it is situated between a documentary, a fictitious account and video art.Prod.: Messieurs Delmotte

Messieurs Delmotte

In the eye of the spectator the work of Messieurs Delmotte (1967, formerly Monsieur Delmotte) often seems bizarre, absurd or trivial, but to Delmotte his surrealist videos and installations of and with trivial actions are an absolute necessity. His shorts, focussing on obsessive behaviour and compulsive initiatives, make out a long series of attempts to pass beyond the limitations of reality, often with a cartoon-like outcome. Delmotte’s work has been shown, among others, at the Espace Volga (Paris), The Function Room (London) and the Kunsthalle in Wuppertal. He lives and works in Liège.

Between Two Walls
Ria Pacquée

2004
video | 00:04:01 | col.
non spoken

The work of Ria Pacquée contains narrative aspects, firmly rooted in a social awareness, which do not seem to take shape until the final stage of the editing. Between Two Walls is recorded at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and it consists of images with people of various beliefs who are praying in the streets, in a country and a city which has been fought over for centuries. Prod.: Ria Pacquée

Cantaert Hunter 8906020
Ria Pacquée

2003
video | 00:03:06 | col.
non spoken

The work of Ria Pacquée contains narrative aspects, firmly rooted in a social awareness, which do not seem to take shape until the final stage of the editing. In Cantaert Hunter 8906020 we see Pacquée on the run, rushing through a cornfield, with corn leaves mercilessly hitting her in the face. Prod.: Ria Pacquée

Vox Clamans in Deserto
Ria Pacquée

2003
video | 00:004:52 | col.
non spoken

The work of Ria Pacquée contains narrative aspects, firmly rooted in a social awareness, which do not seem to take shape until the final stage of the editing. Vox Clamans in Deserto is a combination of filmed reality (blood pouring away after a ritual slaughter in Moroccan Medina) and performance (Pacquée throws sand at her face), the images obtaining a symbolical connotation – the red objects in the film symbolize death and war. Prod.: Ria Pacquée

Ria Pacquée
Ria Pacquée (1954) started out towards the end of the 70’s as a performance artist and soon after, she started making use of photography and video to perpetuate her acts. In an unaffected and direct style she accumulates instances. In this process the photo or video images are merely communicators of the moment of the discovery. Her work has been shown, among others, at Kunsthalle Wien, the MuHKA (Antwerp) and Belgian Art Now, Art Athina (Athene). She lives and works in Antwerp.

Olga Baillif
Kint, de l’Autre Côté

In 1956, a couple of weeks after the Russian invasion, Baillif’s mother escaped from Hungary. In this documentary Olga Baillif sets out on a quest for the story of her mother, the family she left behind and recollections in the historical context. At the same time Kint, de l’Autre Côté is a portrait of contemporary Hungary.

Fri, 22 Oct 2004
16:45 - 18:02

Kint, de l’Autre Côté
Olga Baillif

2004
video | 00:77:00 | col.
spoken | french, german, hungarian | subtitles: french

In 1956, several weeks after the Russian attack, Baillif’s mother escaped from Hungary. Because she never discussed her life before this departure from Budapest, nor her relatives, Olga Baillif decided to go on a search in this documentary, for the story of her mother, the family which stayed behind and memories in the historical context. At the same time Kint, de l’Autre Côté is a portrait of contemporary Hungary.Prod.: Cobra Films

Olga Baillif
Olga Baillif (1969) was born in Genève and she lives and works in Brussels, where she studied at the INSAS. Baillif’s work is predominantly documentary and it’s been shown, among others, at the Festival International du Film Francophone (Namur), Cinéma Tout Ecran (Genève), Arte and TéléBruxelles.

Frédéric Sojcher
Cinéastes à tout prix

Cinéastes à Tout Prix is a documentary about three Walloon filmmakers - Max Navreau, Jacques Hardy and Jean-Jaques Rousseau – each of them they have been making films on their own, without any means, education or response, with minimal special effects, average techniques and amateur-actors. Nevertheless they command respect.

Cinéastes à tout prix
Frédéric Sojcher

2004
video | 01:02:00 | col.
spoken | french | subtitles: english

Cinéastes à Tout Prix is a documentary on three Walloon filmmakers - Max Navreau, Jacques Hardy and Jean-Jaques Rousseau. Each of them has been making films for years, without any means, education or response. In spite – or maybe because – of the minimal special effects, the average techniques, the amateur actors and the often trivial subject matter these stubborn directors still command respect, because of their obsessive perseverance. Prod.: Saga Film / WIP

Frédéric Sojcher
Frédéric Sojcher (1967) lives and works in Brussels and he has made a number of shorts (working, among others, with Serge Gainsbourg, who is performing in the short film Fumeurs the Charme), as well as a feature film, Regarde Moi. He teaches practical cinematography at the University of Paris, and he has written and edited several books on Belgian and European cinema. The film Cinéastes à Tout Prix has been shown on the Cannes film festival.

SHORTS #19: GUIDE / LINES

Fri, 22 Oct 2004
20:45 - 21:47

_imovie _[2] in-between/shifting
Els Opsomer

2004
video | 00:13:52 | col.
non spoken | subtitles: english

_Imovie_[2] in-between/shifting is the second video Opsomer made with the amateur software package ‘iLife’, supplied with Apple computers. The video consists of photography of cities in Brazil and Senegal, which Opsomer visited. The photos of views from and onto high-rise buildings were later transferred to video in such a way that the urban structures appear to have been filmed right there on the spot. Nothing but the unnatural halted appearance of these images indicates we are in fact dealing with photography. During the film subtitles appear onscreen, constituting a video letter. The letter contains an investigation into the assimilation of Opsomer’s personal ambivalent impressions during her stays in the various cities. Prod.: Els Opsomer

Els Opsomer
Els Opsomer (1968) is a visual artist and graphical designer and she was an artist-in-residence at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam for some years. Together with such people as Johan Grimonprez, Herman Asselberghs and Ronny Vissers she set up a couple of multimedia-installations. She puts forward questions to and comments on the complex reality we live in. Often she presents her work as survival strategies, mental aids assisting with the protection of the integrity of the human individual against the bombardment of reality. In the process she often makes use of her ever growing archive of photos and videos of city images, combining them with text and colour. Her work has been shown, among others, at the Werkleitz Biënnale, the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea (Santiago de Compostella), MuHKA (Antwerp) and the Biennial on Media and Architecture (Graz). Opsomer works and lives in Brussels.

A.M./P.M.
Herman Asselberghs

2004
video | 00:47:00 | col.
spoken | english

In A.M./P.M the image explores the photography of buildings in an infinitely slow, steady movement. The big-city landscapes, views onto office buildings, flats, dark corners, bright windows and skyscrapers are accompanied by a female voice. She speaks about herself and the world, about images of today, about a journey. Her monologue is a fictionalised rendering of the impressions Asselberghs gained during a stay in Palestine. In the film he opted to approach the explosive and mediatised situation in that region making use of an absolutely minimal (audio)visual way. The distance which Asselberghs created by using a cool female voice in stead of his own and his rejection of documentary data provides a complex approach of his feelings and ideas surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The soundtrack is by David Shea, the voice-over by visual artist Claude Wampler and the photography by Els Opsomer. A longer version of the voice-over text is published in the book ’Time Suspended’ by Herman Asselberghs, Els Opsomer and Pieter van Bogaert (Square, 2004).Prod.: Square vzw

Herman Asselberghs
Herman Asselberghs (1962) is an artist and an art critic. He writes about audiovisual culture in ‘De Tijd’, he teaches in the film department at the college of higher education Sint-Lukas in Brussels and he is also a member of staff with the Transmedia postgraduate. He is a founding member of Square vzw and a co-curator of [sonic]square, an ambulant concert series for electronic music. He published the book ‘Wrapped’ (with Els Opsomer and Rony Vissers, GCAC, 2000), and the essay compilation ‘Het Museum van de Natie. Van kolonialisme tot globalisering’ (with Dieter Lesage, Gevaert Publishing, 1999). His installations have been shown, among others, by the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Documenta X (Kassel), Deitch Projects (New York), hArtware (Dortmund), the Rotterdam Foto Biënnale 2003 and MUHKA (Antwerp).

Aï Suzuki & Pascal Baes
FeedBack Perf

FeedBackPerf is a video performance, starting from an experiment with an analogue video-feedback signal between a video camera and a projection screen. Facing the projection a performance is shown, in it the interaction between the performer (Suzuki) – and Baes is a constant exchange of images.

Performance & Concerts

Fri, 22 Oct 2004
22:30 - 23:30

FeedBackPerf
Pascal Baes
Aï Suzuki

FeedBackPerf is a video performance, starting out with a simple experiment: an analogue video-feedback signal between a video camera, filming the image of a screen and sending the signal back to it. The optical imperfection of this analogue phenomenon is produced with the accumulative echoes of this image which results in patterns, similar to models of complicated mathematical systems. The result is determined by the data that are fed into it. From here the feedback is digitally processed and the rules for the processing and revision of the rules for adding up and stacking the images in all kinds of textures and self-generating patterns. Facing the projection a performance is shown in which Suzuki is transfigured into a configuration, from which all kinds of masks and primitive make-up seemingly arise out of nothing. The interaction between the performer and Baes is a constant exchange of images. There is a recording of the performance as well, called FeedBackPaint.Prod.: Pascal Baes & Aï Suzuki

Pascal Baes
Pascal Baes (1958) is a painter and photographer by origin, but since 1985 he has mainly worked with film and video. He specialises in image-by-image animation and he experiments with the use of stop-motion technique, in which the camera records the subject with intervals. He is inspired by the avant-garde films from the 20s and30s. To a large extent his performance work consists of two parts: a video installation and a live performance his life partner and dancer Aï Suzuki participates in. His work has been shown in the Philadelphia Museum, the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris) and during the Hamburger Kurzfilmfestival. Baes and Suzuki live and work in Brussels.

Eyal Sivan & Michel Khleifi
Route 181, Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel

This historic documentary shows how the separation of the Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian population is realized not merely with fences and walls, it has penetrated deep into the minds as well.

Sat, 23 Oct 2004
14:15 - 18:47

Route 181, Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel
Eyal Sivan
Michel Khleifi

2003
video | 04:32:00 | col.
spoken | hebrew, arabic | subtitles: english

In 1947 resolution 181 was issued by the United Nations, containing the distribution of the territories of Israel and Palestine. With Route 181, Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel Sivan, of Jewish-Israeli descent, and Khleifi, of Muslim-Palestine origin, have tried to map out the political status quo of the inhabitants along these ‘borders’ of Palestine and Israel, which have never been used. In this documentary of over four hours we travel through Israel’s new colonies and abandoned Palestine villages. People along this route all have their own stories and emotions, varying from resignation to fierce outbursts of anger. The recollections of the regular population on both sides about early colonisations and military actions, combined with historical research turn this film into one of the clearest and most realistic documents on contemporary Israel. It does become clear, however, that the separation of the Jewish-Israeli and Palestine population is not merely realized with fences and walls alone, it penetrated deep into mind as well. Prod.: Momento!

Eyal Sivan Eyal Sivan (1964) is a documentary maker and he was born in Haifa (Israel). He lives and works in Paris. His documentaries have been shown on many festivals, such as the Berlin Film Festival and the International Film Festival of San Fransisco. Sivan has won, among others, the Golden Lens award (Israel) and the Prix du Festival France Cinéma (Italy). Michel Khleifi (1950) was born in Nazareth (Palestine). He studied at INSAS in Brussels, worked as a scriptwriter, director and producer for various documentaries, shown, among others, during the Cannes film festival. Khleifi has won, among others, the Prix de la Critique Internationale (Spain). He lives and works in Brussels. Both documentary makers have been making films since the 80s about the political situation in the Middle East.

Michel Khleifi Michel Khleifi (1950) was born in Nazareth (Palestine). He studied at INSAS in Brussels, worked as a scriptwriter, director and producer for various documentaries, shown, among others, during the Cannes film festival. Khleifi has won, among others, the Prix de la Critique Internationale (Spain). He lives and works in Brussels. Both documentary makers have been making films since the 80s about the political situation in the Middle East.

This event is part of argosfestival 2004