FORÊT D’EXPÉRIMENTATION

at Filmmuseum DĂŒsseldorf as part of the FISHING IN GREEN, LIVING IN YELLOW exhibition at the pool, Art and Exhibtion space.

How do humans influence plant transformation processes, and what role does photosynthesis play in this? What opportunities and risks do adaptations entail, and what can we learn from nature? In a dystopian, almost surreal atmosphere, transparent and luminous materials such as bioplastics made of agar-agar, silicone and latex are juxtaposed to explore the fluid boundaries between naturalness and artificiality and make them tangible for visitors. The artists are inspired by houseplants, algae production plants, deep-sea research, ghost mushrooms, bioluminescence and washed-up flotsam. How do we shape nature – and how does it shape us? Technological interventions are changing our perception of what we perceive as natural. But how can we rethink our understanding of the connection between humans, nature and technology? With Fishing in Green, Living in Yellow, the artists create a space that is both organic and futuristic. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the fragility and beauty of nature and our complex relationship with it.

Thanks Liza Dieckwisch, Jungwoon Kim, Mirjam Pajakowski!

The Sorrow of the Lynx

I have been invited by the CinémathÚque québécoise to create a new work for their Archives in the Hand of Filmmakers program presented at the FIAF congress.

The Sorrow of the Lynx takes a look at the Siberian ecosystem and effects of climate change like massive forest fires in the region. Stefan Németh made an amazing soundtrack for the film.

World premiere on Monday at 8.30 at the Cinématheque québécois.

https://www.cinematheque.qc.ca/…/archives-in-the-hands…

The CinĂ©mathĂšque quĂ©bĂ©coise commissioned six artists (from both the experimental and animated film scenes) to create a short film using unselected Soviet films from a donation by collector François Lemai. Recomposing images, manipulating shots to remind us of their plastic value, producing a discourse that resonates with the approach of the artists invited… We invite you to discover the world premiere of these singular and powerful approaches.

Thanks for the invitation Guillaume Lafleur!

Can’t wait to see what Ralitsa Doncheva, Charles-AndrĂ© Coderre, Theodore Ushev and Steven Woloshen have created from the material.

Délire atta

Opening evening of the study days: L’art du cinĂ©ma scientifique: archives, dispositif, spectacle. 24.4., 7pm, la lumiere collective

Program:
(d‘)AprĂšs PainlevĂ©:
hallucinations, experimentations, dérives
A program of films proposed by Éric Thouvenel
FIlms projected:
Birds by the sea (Wolfgang Lehmann, 2008, 16mm, color, sound, 2mn)
The Kiss (Ian Bourn, 1999, Betacam SP, color, sound, 5mn)
Wasteland No. 3 : Moons, Sons (Jodie Mack 2021, digital, color, silent, 5mn)
Comingled Containers (Stan Brakhage, 1996, 16mm, color, silent, 4mn)
Eclipse (Jeanne Liotta, 2005, 16mm, color, sound, 3mn20)
Discoveries on the Forest Floor (Charlotte Pryce, 2006, 16mm, color, silent, 4mn)
Atomic Garden (Ana Vaz, 2018, 16mm, color, sound, 8mn)

Followed by
Délire Atta
A performance by Roger Tellier-Craig (sound), Michaella Grill (images)
and
Cadavre exquis #4 (The Nervous Urchins/Les oursins nerveux)
A performance by Miguel Morin, Merlin Campbell, André Habib

FREE ADMISSION (reservation required)

The Great Thaw

I will be in Graz next week to present The Great Thaw at Diagonale. Festival des österreichischen Films. Come join me in short documentaries program 2 on the 28 at 2pm at KIZ and on the 30 at 4.45 at Schubert 2. Thanks for the invite!

You can watch the big thaw. And listen. The Great Thaw lets the dramatically changing nature of the Arctic regions speak for itself. Permafrost, forests and mountain masses react inexorably. A beautiful symphony in the truest sense of the word about impending doom.

You can watch the great thaw. And listen. Even before the camera flies over the Arctic ice, which is by no means eternal, a creaking sound can be heard on the soundtrack. Is this what the melting of the polar regions sounds like? The first of several text panels referring to the disappearance of polar ice and glaciers puts the beauty of the following images of a snow-covered Arctic landscape in a different light – and therefore makes them something unique.

The Great Thaw allows the dramatically changing nature – vegetation, mountain masses, permafrost – to speak for itself. Pipelines run through green forests in which lakes are forming, new rivers are emerging in depressions in the ground. And suddenly a truck loaded with pipes drives past a scree slope. The sublimity that modern man ascribes to nature does not exist. It has become what he makes of it. And it reacts as a whole. The last text panel belongs to the author and palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday: “We know that change is happening, that we are responsible for it – and what will happen if it continues.” (Michael Pekler)