Overview

This event is now sold out

A two-day programme of films and live performances explores artistic approaches to the way in which technological and socio-political pressures shift our means and modes of communication. Films by historical and contemporary artists are on show, including works by Hollis Frampton, Karen Mirza & Brad Butler, Wendelien van Oldenborgh and Katarina Zdjelar, among others. Live performances by artist Mikhail Karikis and Berlin-based video and performance artist Karolin Meunier investigate the immediate and fugitive nature of the voice.

Curated by Florian Wüst and Maxa Zoller.

Book online or call 020 7703 6120. Please note that tickets must be booked for each day individually.

Fri 26 Oct, 7pm
Programme I: Of Violence and Whispers
This programme of both historical works of avant-garde cinema and contemporary video art presents films that seek to subvert the power relations inherent in systems of communication. When the relationship between speaker and listener goes 'out of synch', speech can become an act of violence. In Of Violence and Whispers the poetics of deconstructed language, accelerated speech, stutter, splits and breaks become modes of emancipation from and resistance to dominant voices, who speak in the name of the father, the law, the logos, and so forth. The programme combines historical works of avant-garde cinema and contemporary video art, and will be introduced by London-based performance artist Mikhail Karikis.

Word Movie, Paul Sharits, USA 1966, 4'
Critical Mass, Hollis Frampton, USA 1971, 24'
Troleibuzul 92, Stefan Constantinescu, SE 2009, 8'
Back Inside Herself, Saundra Sharp, USA 1983, 4'
Film, Mikhail Karikis, UK 2012, 2'
b-star, untötbar!, Sabine Marte, AT 2009, 7'
Not I, Samuel Beckett, UK 1977, 12'
On the Threshold of Liberty, Heidi Tikka, FI 1992, 11'

9pm
Bete & Deise
Wendelien van Oldenborgh, NL/BR 2012, 41'

In Wendelien an Oldenborgh's new film Bete & Deise, two women encounter each other in a building under construction in Rio de Janeiro. Bete Mendes and Deise Tigrona have—each in their own way—given meaning to the idea of a public voice. Bete Mendes (born 1949) has continued to maintain a political career alongside her acting career in popular television since the 1960s. Deise Tigrona (born 1979) is one of the most powerful voices in the Funk Carioca movement today. Growing up in the impoverished community of Cidade de Deus, she rose to international popularity with her music in 2005. Together these women talk about the use of their voice and their positions in the public sphere, allowing for the contradictions they each carry within themselves to surface.

Sat 27 Oct, 7pm
Audition Sample - Performance by Karolin Meunier (Berlin)

Formulaic and mediated conditions of communication are at the heart of the performances, texts and videos of Karolin Meunier. Audition Sample is part of a series of works, which examine the modus operandi of speech and address. In this performance Meunier translates the relationships between speaker, receiver and public space into abstract dimensions and maps them onto the physical gallery space. Meunier then draws these speculative coordinative systems to a point where the abstract models disintegrate leaving the audience with no more than a narrative thread. The performances in which systems of meaning are created only to unravel and eventually become inoperative are key to the artist’s examination of the ephemeral, absurdist nature of communication.

8pm
Programme II: Language of Gesture
The migration of language through different physical and geo-political territories is the central theme of this programme. Language of Gesture presents a selection of contemporary experimental and documentary films that examine the relationship between verbal expression and bodily gesture, (tele)communication and social identity. When language moves from the mouth to elsewhere in the body, for instance into our limbs, arms and hands, the body becomes an extension of the voice. This language of signs, mime and gesture returns and gives birth to meaning that potentially surpasses cultural boundaries or functions as political symbol in a globalized world.

Mapping Journey #5, Bouchra Khalili, FR/MA/IT 2010, 11'
The Perfect Sound, Katarina Zdjelar, NL/UK 2009, 14'
Ägypten, Kathrin Resetarits, AT 1997, 10'
Hold Your Ground, Karen Mirza & Brad Butler, UK 2012, 13'
One Day, Ditte Haarløv Johnsen, DK 2007, 30'

Booking is essential for performances and film screenings. 

Book online or call 020 7703 6120.
Please note that tickets must be booked for each day individually.

Bete & Deise, 2012 is co-produced by If I Cant Dance, I Dont Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution (Amsterdam); with the support of the Danish Arts Council, the Mondriaan Foundation, the Culture Programme of the European Union.

Download the Programme Notes from 26 Oct 2012

Download the Programme Notes from 27 Oct 2012