LUX / Blog
Ben Cook
4 Nov 2009
Soy Mi Madre, Phil Collins (copyright Phil Collins)
This month belongs to German artist and film essayist Harun Farocki with both an exhibition of new work at Raven Row and a 22 Film Retrospective at Tate Modern. Over the last few years I can't think of another fillmmaker I have recommended and cited more as someone who has been dealing with themes that seem so prevalent in contemporary moving image practice and I'm always amazed how little known his work is the UK. LUX brought him to London in 2004 for a sort of mini-retrospective and lecture as part of a series we were running at the Imperial War Museum called 'Alternative Histories of Modern Conflict'. I remember his perplexity when he arrived, that somewhere like the 'Imperial War Museum' could even exist, but he went on to deliver a stellar lecture on 'phantom perspective' (ie impossible viewpoints) particularly in relation to the 'bomb-eye' perspective images of the Iraq war which were so prevalent in the media at that time.
Farocki has made so many good films and even in the internet age they are surprisingly hard to find, although it is hard if I would make one personal recommendation it would be for one of his early essay films 'As You See' (1986) (showing on 22nd November), a dizzying associative mediation on technology and culture. To find out more check out this guide to Farocki on the web complied by the excellent Film Studies For Free.
Continuing on a related theme, another great screening series this month is Generation Berlin Wall, again taking place at Tate Modern as well as the Goethe Institut and no.w.here. Marking the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the series compares and contrasts 80s experimental film from both sides of the wall as well as the various underground movements of the time. A number of key artists from the time will be in town including Michael Brynntrup, Cynthia Beatt, Lothar Fiedler, Helge Leiberg and Cornelia Schleime and the season is curated by long-time LUX friend and collaborator, Florian Wüst. Also on the theme of the anniversary of the Berlin Wall also check out an excellent new website/ video archive, Transitland, Video Art from Central and Eastern Europe 1989 - 2009..
Also of note this month, Duncan Campbell follows up his excellent 2008 film 'Bernadette' with a new project 'Make it new John' at Chisenhale Gallery, this is his first major solo show in a public gallery in London. The film tells the story of tells the story of the DeLorean car (immortalised in 'Back to the Future'), its creator John DeLorean and the workers of the Belfast-based car plant who built it as well as the wider resonances for Northern Ireland. Also from Glasgow, Stephen Sutcliffe is at Cubitt Gallery, with new videos and wall drawings, his work in the Micky Schubert stand at Frieze Art Fair was one of the best videos in the whole fair so this should be worth seeing. Last but not least, yet another Glasgow resident, Phil Collins at Victoria Miro presenting what sounds like his most ambitious project yet 'soy mi madre', a 'telenovela' shot in Mexico City, with some of Mexico's leading TV stars, written by hired Hollywood scriptwriters and inspired by Jean Genet's 'The Maids! sounds too good to be true..
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Tags: Duncan Campbell
film
Harun Farocki
london
Phil Collins
Stephen Sutcliffe
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