The Film Will Always Be You: South African Artists on Screen
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The Film Will Always Be You: South African Artists On Screen The Film Will Always Be You Yours > MINE > ours: curatorial notes on the origins of The Film Will Always Be You “The films opened an enormous door because they gave me a sense that it was possible to work without a program in advance, without first having written a script – a sense that if you work conscientiously and hard, and there is something inside you that is of interest, you yourself will be the film and the film will always be you.” – William Kentridge 1 It’s something of a cliché to open as over-arching inspiration: it a curatorial essay with an obscure is a declaration of the film series’ and/or erudite quote. A well-chosen artist-centred approach and keen excerpt not only sets the tone but often interest in the expression of artists’ casts the essayist(s) in a learned and subjectivity through moving image. cultured light with minimal effort. We, the authors are both fans and, most Within the South African context evidently, adopters of this technique. of maverick filmmakers, the This unique collection of South African Johannesburg Free Filmmakers’ Co- artists’ films does indeed open with Operative (FFM) provides tantalising a quote, not only literally deriving insight down what Kentridge’s studio the series title from artist William confirms is a “slightly erased and Kentridge’s reflection on his own fragmented trail.” 2 Comprising a evolving technique but also serving loose association of like-minded 5 individuals mainly making political drawing, and animation, this from one key facet of this previous What perspectives do the assembled documentaries in Johannesburg in vanguard work is a vital springboard one – namely, consideration of artists bring to bear? Sharing little the 1980s, FFM included Kentridge for considering the varied recent the subjective urgency of those more than geography (so arbitrary yet and other central members Angus directions taken by South African compelling voices and viewpoints; equally specific, alternately unifying Gibson, Jonathan Miller and Harriet artists working with moving image the nuances that made “mine,” or divisive), these films have much Gavshon, each of whom remain which span all these areas as well theirs. American artist Fred Wilson’s to say to one another. Through their active in film and television in as taking in the digital aesthetics seminal Maryland Historical Society respective practices, the artists create South Africa and internationally. afforded by the internet. intervention Mining the Museum 1992 space for discourse, juxtaposition, Kentridge recalls, “Some of my early plumbed the depths of a collection harmony, discord and even those art animations were made under the It also bears noting that the seed of in order to reveal its contradictions, historical ideals of Truth and Beauty. rubric of Free Filmmakers, but Free this project lay within Abrie Fourie’s ultimately transforming not only Ultimately, it is via their subjectivities Filmmakers really was not involved previously curated film series MINE the public’s understanding but an that we are allowed not only to in the production of them, which was (2011-2013, touring internationally) institution’s understanding of itself. see aspects of themselves, but of essentially done by me. I made a Playing on multiple meanings of As in that instance, in The Film Will ourselves as well. couple of experimental films under excavation, abundant sources Always Be You, it’s the artist’s agency the FFM name, pieces made really and personal attachments, MINE and how they marshal their medium to test out equipment.” 3 Alongside explored South Africa’s fraught that matters. Zoé Whitley, June 2015 experimentations with animation, history of capitalist exploitation of Kentridge also collaborated with land, resources and people under the Angus Gibson on the beautiful and colonialist and Apartheid systems, elegiac film Freedom Square & Back reflected through the lenses of many of the Moon 1987, commissioned by of the leading contemporary artists 1. http://www.art21.org/anythingispossible/slideshow/on-animated-films/ Accessed: 15 January 2015 Channel 4 in 1986. Fusing as it does born or based in South Africa. The 2. Correspondence between Zoé Whitley, Anne McIlleron and William Kentridge, 6 February 2015 documentary, theatre, performance, Film Will Always Be You took root 3. Ibid. 6 7 Lazara Rosell Albear & Doris Bloom The MacGuffin Rolling around in elephant dung and visceral simulations, the two artists dressed in protective forensic suits, stage a meeting between a primordial ritualistic past and a cold, already aggressively present, industrial future. As emphasised by their child-like pictogram masks, the two white clad figures apparently desire to become one with the ‘hazardous’ matter from which their suits protect them, so as to indulge in the hectically framed images they are creating through the traces they leave on the white floor. Is this our situation as eidolonauts in a hyper-real culture, whose images we bathe in without really touching their referents? The MacGuffin of the title suggests that, after all, action supersedes the goal of desire, which may be as unreachable as the fire of truth outside Plato’s cave or Lacan’s ever-elusive "objet petit a". The two characters are increasingly absorbed in networks of micro-processes. This absorptive effect strengthens as the dynamic The MacGuffin • 2013 • 4 minutes 15 seconds • courtesy of the artists, Lazara Rosell Albear(Brussels) & Doris Bloom(Copenhagen) patterns double onto the screen through hand gestures yet simulated traces of paint: the dung of the elephant is echoed in the digestion of the image machine. Jacob Wamberg, Professor, History of Art, Aarhus University 8 9 Lazara Rosell Albear & Doris Bloom Lazara Rosell Albear is a Cuban- Doris Bloom was born and raised Belgian artist. With a Masters in in South Africa. She relocated to Audiovisual Art (medium film) from Denmark after completing her studies the K.A.S.K (The Royal Academy at JCA, Johannesburg College of of Fine Arts) in Ghent, Belgium, Art. In 1982, received a Masters from she is dedicated to the research, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine performance and production of cross- Arts in Copenhagen with her focus media projects, events and films. As a on painting, graphics, and interactive filmmaker, drummer, dancer/performer, art in public space. Residencies extended voice performer and visual in Rome brought her in contact artist she aims to explore, enhance and with a young generation of Italian expand experiential awareness beyond artists and collaborations with critic/ the usual stereotypes by exploring curator Achille Bonito Oliva in several cross-mediality, interactivity and exhibitions. In 1995 she collaborated Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein culturally in Denmark, Ireland, Italy, collaborations. She uses new media, with William Kentridge for the in 2004. Since the early 1990s she Germany, South Africa, Egypt, Israel such as video and 3D, in conjunction Johannesburg Biennale. Investigating has continued to pursue collaborative and Belgium, where since 2012, she with traditional means as dance, frontiers of identity and place Bloom directions in performances and video- has collaborated with Lazara Rosell music, theater to create exponential staged and curated Sted/Place based works that incorporate the Albear. Among the many grants of possibilities and totally immersive with fellow South African and Danish body. Rooted in both individual and honour and prizes she is a recipient performances. artists, at Kastrupgårdsamlingen in collective identities, her work has been of the Danish Lifetime Achievement 2003, Johannesburg Art Gallery and performed and documented cross- Award. 10 11 Bridget Baker The Pilot The Pilot closely references 1920s film techniques and the dramatic rescue scenes synonymous with Swiss Alpine Sports Films directed by auteur Arnold Fanck. Baker’s characteristic female heroine is a 1920s pilot lying unconscious in the snow. With a broken leg she silently waits for her rescuer or death. Before her dramatic rescue the camera slowly scrutinizes her body for clues of her identity. The details of her life are discovered with precise anthropological detail: her swiss alpine family emblem, the “wooden tasseln” around her waist, and the sporting “Only you can©” inscribed crampons. Vignetting her face with a soft focus reveals a timeless beauty. Yet, she remains elusive, leaving behind an invisible trace of the imagined past she briefly occupied. Bridget Baker lives and works in and visual language, whilst based London (b.1971, East London, on in-depth research into questions The Pilot • 2007 - 2008 • 16mm b&w film • 12 minutes • no audio • scenario, production South Africa). Her work intersects about her own past as well as design and direction Bridget Baker • cinematography Michael Cleary • The Pilot Philana van Schalkwyk • editing Ronet van der Walt (Fathomm) • post-production Jeremy Collins (Juju) documentary and memory- collective memory within colonial producer Wendy Faull (The Big Picture Film Company) • executive production Official BB construction, forming a series of and postcolonial narratives, remains Projects and João Ferreira • locations in South Africa Tiffendel Ski Resort, McDhui, Eastern complex visual fragments realised characteristically speculative, nomadic Cape and The Colosseum, Cape Town • courtesy of the artist and Tyburn Gallery, London through filmmaking, installation and and estranging. Occupying