64th Berlinale: 52 works from 20 countries selected for the 9th Forum Expanded

52 works from 20 countries have been selected for the 9th Forum Expanded. The exhibition at ST. AGNES, the former parish hall whose church space is one of the key venues for this year’s Forum Expanded, is already being set up for the opening on February 5.

Berlin, Germany, 21-1-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — In one of the installations to be shown there, Clemens von Wedemeyer’s “Afterimage”, a camera feels its way through the props store at the Cinecittà studios in Rome. In the church tower, Malak Helmy’s sound recordings of a carrier pigeon that flew to previously important places on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast can be heard. Judith Hopf’s video piece observes the flooding of a neo-bourgeois family domicile that could be located anywhere, including in Kreuzberg, which forms the base for this year’sForum Expanded alongside the Filmhaus at Potsdamer Platz. These are just three examples of works exploring the question of what we actually experience about the world when we localise something at a particular place.

The mainly mid-length film and video works that make up the programme will be shown individually at Arsenal, thus giving each of them the space they require and permitting extensive discussions. The video works can also be seen at fixed times at the Videolounge in the Berlinische Galerie – Museum of Modern Art, Photography and Architecture.

Two films celebrate their cinematic premiere on the big screen at the CineStar IMAX: Everything That Rises Must Converge by Omer Fast (Germany / USA) is a portrait of the day-to-day lives of four porn actors in split-screen. Yael Bartana’s Inferno (The Netherlands / USA) is a “historical preenactment” of striking impact – the 22-minute film will thus be shown by itself before being repeated daily at Arsenal 2.

At Delphi, we are presenting the film adaptation of a theatre production of Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire directed by Canadian Bruce LaBruce, who will be discussing the film together with lead actress Susanne Sachsse, conductor Premil Petroviç and Diedrich Diederichsen.

For the first time, Forum Expanded will also be showing works by Austrian artist Friedl vom Gröller, who has been shooting short films on 16mm for over 40 years that attempt to capture different moments and feelings. Film scholar Christa Blümlinger will be discussing vom Gröller’s work together with the director herself.

The installation “Fictions & Futures #1 – Happiness in the Abstract” by Minze Tummescheit and Arne Hector is being shown in the Arsenal Black Box and explores the trading of raw materials on the global stock market.

The question of “What Do We Know When We Know Where Something Is?” is also to be pursued in three events exploring production locations and the cinematic construction of place: Filmmaker and critic Mark Peranson (La última película, Mark Peranson and Raya Martin, Canada / Denmark / Mexico 2013) and artist and filmmaker Morgan Fisher (Standard Gauge, USA 1984) will be talking about the semantic charge currently attached to the increasing disappearance of 35mm film material and how this relates to the concept of both World and Structural Cinema.

“Cairo – The Still and The Moving” is the title of a work in progress presentation followed by a panel discussion where excerpts of The Vote will be shown, the portrait of four presidential candidates during the first election following the start of the revolution in Egypt. Directors Hanan Abdalla and Cressida Trew (cinematographer of Forum special screening The Square) will discuss their work with Viola Shafik, whose film Scent of Revolution is also showing at the Forum as a special screening.

Stephan Geene’s new film umsonst paints a picture of Kreuzkölln, the Berlin neighbourhood that has emerged from Kreuzberg over the last 25 years following the fall of the Berlin Wall and has been subject to a generational change in the process. The film was produced in a collective context located in the same district, whose members include Karolin Meunier, producer Caroline Kirberg and cameraman Volker Sattel, both of whom will be taking part in the discussion.

The previously announced presentation of films and film fragments by queer icon Jack Smith made available by the Jack Smith Archive of the Gladstone Gallery, NY and Brussels, is showing at Hebbel am Ufer (HAU 1) and the Berlinische Galerie under the title of “Jack Smith: Beyond the Rented World”. Musician John Zorn will be playing records from Jack Smith’s collection at HAU 1 to accompany several films from the programme. Marc Siegel is chairing the discussions to be held with Jerry Tartaglia, who was responsible for restoring the films, John Zorn as well as Ken and Flo Jacobs, who are not just mere contemporaries of Jack Smith in this context: 3-D films by Ken Jacobs are also showing in the programme of both Forum and Forum Expanded, connecting early cinema to the cinema of the avant-garde and that of today.

Forum Expanded is also presenting the two-day conference “Think:Film No. 2 – What Do We Know When We Know Where Something Is?” in collaboration with the Allianz Cultural Foundation. Gallery, museum, theatre or cinema – the discussion surrounding the relationship between film and the other arts has largely revolved around concepts of space and location. Where does a film come from and where is it shown? This question is relevant both with respect to artistic context as well as nation state attributions, even though finding an answer is hardly possible at a time of hybrid forms, transnational collaborations and historical and political shifts. The following participants have already confirmed their attendance: Vinzenz Hediger, Tarek Elhaid, Jahman Oladejo Anikulapo, Viola Shafik, Ute Holl, Rania Stephan, Laura Mulvey, Gertrud Koch, Gregor Stemmrich, Henriette Huldisch, Jörn Schaffaf, Heinz Emigholz, Ala Younis, Heba Amin, Malak Helmy, Marc Siegel, Roy Dib, Renate Lorenz, Bouchra Khalili, Dennis Lim, Irit Neidhardt, Maha Maamoun and Tamer El Said.

Finally, the first ever Think:Film Award will be presented during Forum Expanded. The jury consists of Mohamed Beshir, Marcel Schwerin and Ala Younis.

Forum Expanded is curated by Stefanie Schulte Strathaus (head curator), Anselm Franke, Nanna Heidenreich, Bettina Steinbrügge and Ulrich Ziemons.

List of Artists / Film Programme

Gheith Al-Amine The Sheikh Imam Project (Lebanon)
Monira Al Qadiri Behind the Sun (Kuwait)
Kush Badhwar Blood Earth (India)
Wojciech Bąkowski Pogorszenie Widzenia (Poland)
Yael Bartana Inferno (The Netherlands / USA)
Mareike Bernien, Kerstin Schroedinger Rainbow’s Gravity (Germany / United Kingdom)
Felipe Bragança, Helvécio Marins Jr. Fernando que ganhou um pássaro do mar (Portugal / Brazil)
Bruce LaBruce Pierrot Lunaire (Germany / Canada)
Roy Dib Mondial 2010 (Lebanon)
Omer Fast Everything That Rises Must Converge (Germany / USA)
Philipp Fleischmann Main Hall (Austria)
Dani Gal Wie aus der Ferne (Germany / Austria)
Stefanie Gaus/ Volker Sattel Beyond Metabolism (Germany)
Stephan Geene umsonst (Germany)
Friedl vom Gröller: Ma Peau Precieuse/ Guilty until proven innocent/ 66, Rue Stephenson / Poetry for Sale/ Kirschenzeit/ Nec Spe Nec Metu/ Im Wiener Prater/ Das neue Kostüm / Warum es sich zu leben lohnt (Austria)
Juliane Henrich schleifen (Germany)
Margaret Honda Spectrum Reverse Spectrum (USA)
Shambhavi Kaul Mount Song (India / USA)
Chris Kennedy Brimstone Line (Canada)
Marie Losier Bim, Bam, Boom, Las Luchas Morenas (USA / Denmark / Mexico)
Maha Maamoun Shooting Stars Remind me of Eavesdroppers (Egypt)
Marcin Malaszczak Orbitalna (Germany / Poland)
Ahmed Mater Leaves fall in all Seasons (Saudi Arabia)
Laura Mulvey / Faysal Abdullah / Mark Lewis 23rd August 2008 (United Kingdom)
Jasmina Metwaly From behind of the monument (Egypt)
Joe Namy Half Step (Lebanon)
Jakrawal Nilthamrong Stone Cloud (Thailand)
Branwen Okpako Fluch der Medea (Germany)
Amie Siegel Provenance / Lot 248 (USA)
The Youngrrr Another Colour TV (Indonesia)

Jack Smith
Milkbath Scene from Normal Love / Boiled Lobster of Lucky Landlady Lagoon / In the Grip of the Lobster / Exotic Landlordism / Overstimulated / Hamlet in the Rented World (A Fragment) / Gems, Clips and Shorts (USA)

Exhibitions

ST. AGNES
Heba Amin Project Speak2Tweet: Case Study #1 (Egypt)
Hannes Böck Fünf Skulpturen aus den ägyptischen Heiligtümern im Museo del Sannio, Benevento: n. 252 Hockender Pavian, Diorit; n. 253 Falke, Amphibolit; n. 255 Falke, Gabbro; n. 256 Hockender Pavian, Diorit; n. 280 Apis-Stier, Diorit. (Austria)
Azin Feizabadi Chronicles from Majnun until Layla – Stage #1 & #2 (Iran / Germany)
Robert Fenz Tea (USA)
Malak Helmy Music for Drifting (Egypt)
Judith Hopf Lily’s Laptop (Germany)
Ken Jacobs A Primer in Sky Socialism (USA)
Jakrawal Nilthamrong Hangman/ INTRANSIT (Thailand)
Firas Shehadeh Guerilla 8-bit (Jordan)
Clemens von Wedemeyer Afterimage (Germany)

Embassy of Canada – Marshall McLuhan Salon
Tyler Hagan In the Similkameen (Canada)

Black Box at the Filmhaus
Minze Tummescheit / Arne Hector Fictions and Futures #1 – Happiness in the Abstract(Germany/Norway)

###

© Clemens von Wedemeyer und KOW, Berlin
Afterimage by Clemens von Wedemeyer