Film

03.02.2012

A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945

by Isao Hashimoto

A beautiful but undeniably scary timelapse-map of nuclear explosions by Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto can be seen in the following video. It shows with sound and numbers the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998.

Hashimoto started the project in 2003 in order to show “the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.”
Isao HASHIMOTO studied at Department of Arts, Policy and Management of Musashino Art University, Tokyo and is currently working for the Lalique Museum as a curator.

For more information about the artist see http://www.ctbto.org/specials/1945-1998-by-isao-hashimoto/

By Janna Gehrke

29.11.2011

High Arctic Film Weekend

London
December 3/4, 2011

On December the 3rd and 4th, the National Maritime Museum in London hosts the High Arctic Film Weekend. In parallel, the High Arctic exhibition is shown at the National Maritime Museum until the 13th of January 2012, too.
The weekend of Arctic films complements it by featuring a range of documentaries, Inuit features and rare archival footage. The purpose is to expose different representations of the Arctic over the past century. Read more »

By Janna Gehrke

21.11.2011

Heavy Water – Peter Greenaway

Tel Aviv
22 October – 3 December 2011

The famous British filmmaker and artist Peter Greenaway presents a new, spectacular project Heavy Water, a multimedia project by Change Performing Arts, which was especially planned for Chelouche Gallery’s unique exhibit halls in Israel.
After showing projects such as the 9 Classic Paintings Revisited and Leonardo’s last supper in solo exhibitions as well as famous international art events like the Venice Biennale and Expo Shanghai, Greenaway now celebrate World Première in Israel.

Read more »

By Janna Gehrke

25.10.2011

Films about Myanmar and India

November 21st, 2011
MIT (USA)
“The Indian artist and well-known filmmaker Amar Kanwar creates documentary-based multi-channel installations that deal with the politics of power, violence, sexuality, and justice. In “The Torn First Pages”, Kanwar unfolds the struggle for democracy in Myanmar. The eight-chanel video piece “The Lightning Testimonies” reflects upon a history of conflict in the Indian subcontinent through the experiences of sexual violence against women during and after the 1947 partition. Kanwar’s work has been shown in museums across the globe, and he received numerous awards for his works and humanitarian engagement. Kanwar participated in documenta 11, 12, and currently works on a commission for documenta 13.”

The “Zones of Emergency: Artistic Interventions – Creative Responses to Conflict & Crisis” Fall 2011 lecture series investigates initiatives and modes of intervention in contested spaces, zones of conflict, or areas affected by environmental disasters. The intention is to explore whether artistic interventions can transform, disrupt or subvert current environmental, urban, political, and social conditions in critical ways. A crucial question is how can such interventions propose ideas, while at the same time respecting the local history and culture.

More information at the Zones of Emergency Blog: http://zonesofemergency.mit.edu/

By Benjamin Smith

08.10.2011

“99 Is Not 100 – Documenting the Transformative Power of Art, or the Art of Transformative Documentary”

October 31st, 2011
Sloan Fellow, MIT (USA)

“How do we observe or quantify the impact of an artistic intervention or the impact of a documentary film? Lucy Walker will be reflecting on the experience of making and showing the film Waste Land, a documentary about artist Vik Muniz’s collaboration with the self-designated recyclables materials pickers of Jardim Gramacho, the largest landfill in the world. The film has won over thirty international awards and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Lucy Walker has directed four award-winning feature documentaries: Devil’s Playground, Blindsight, Waste Land and Countdown To Zero.”

 

The “Zones of Emergency: Artistic Interventions – Creative Responses to Conflict & Crisis” Fall 2011 lecture series investigates initiatives and modes of intervention in contested spaces, zones of conflict, or areas affected by environmental disasters. The intention is to explore whether artistic interventions can transform, disrupt or subvert current environmental, urban, political, and social conditions in critical ways. A crucial question is how can such interventions propose ideas, while at the same time respecting the local history and culture.

More information at the Zones of Emergency Blog: http://zonesofemergency.mit.edu/

By Benjamin Smith

25.09.2011

Popularizing the Fight for Indigenous Rights: How Using Films and Images Can Shift Public Opinion and Change History

MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology, Fall 2011 Lecture Series:  Zones of Emergency: Artistic Interventions – Creative Responses to Conflict & Crisis

Keynote: Tess Thackara, Director, Survival International (USA)
Respondent: Ute Meta Bauer, ACT Director & Associate Professor, MIT (USA)

Monday, September 26 at 7:00 PM, Bartos Theater at MIT, Wiesner Building (E15), Lower Level – Free and open to the public

This lecture explores the work and methodology of human rights group Survival International, with a particular focus on the group’s efforts to generate a groundswell of support for tribal people all over the world. Using Survival films and campaigns as case studies, the lecture will focus on the need to popularize the narrative surrounding indigenous land rights. Read more »

By Sacha Kagan

09.09.2011

film “An Ecology of Mind”

New York City, Monday, September 12th, 6:30 PM
American Museum of Natural History
panel discussion after screening

‘The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between the way nature works and the way people think.’, this is one of the most famous sayings of Gregory Bateson (*1904 +1980), the well-known anthropologist, philosopher, author, naturalist, systems theorist and filmmaker.

His daughter Nora Bateson has produced a film portrait about her father, showing how his thinking has had influence on the work of an amazingly wide range of disciplines. It shows him challenging people to think in new ways, not looking at things only inside the disciplinary borders. His theories are highly respected, anyway his daughter shows him and his thinking from an interesting perspective, e.g. how he presented his ideas and what the framework for his theories was.

The official website of the film: www.anecologyofmind.com
The screening in the NYC museum: www.amnh.org/calendar/event/An-Ecology-of-Mind
The film in the Internet Movie Database (IMDB): www.imdb.com/title/tt1679144

By Benjamin Smith

04.09.2011

Cultural Events in Bangalore

The Bangalore-based collective “Maraa” invites you, as a parallel to the “Walls Between People” photo exhibition that opens on September 9th, to a series of three interesting events in Bangalore (India).

Movement and Stillness – a theatre workshop on walls, conflict and trust.

Please join us for a three hours theatre workshop on the themes of trust and conflict. During the workshop, the participants will use movement and storytelling to produce short improvisations that will be performed before an audience. The workshop is free and it is limited to a maximum of 20 participants, please confirm your participation before 5th September by mailing us on info [at] maraa [dot] in
Participants will be accepted on a first come first serve basis.

Date: Friday, 9th September
Time: 3-6 pm + sharing
Location: Dance Studio, Alliance Française de Bangalore

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Before and After Walls: An introspective exercise through collective viewing of a film

Read more »

By Benjamin Smith

16.05.2011

UK Green Film Festival

The UK Green Film Festival is a not-for-profit, national film festival showcasing films and filmmakers engaging with environmental and climate change themes that challenge, inspire, educate and entertain. Featured films include: The Age of Stupid, Vanishing of the Bees, Fields of FuelGasLand, With Landscape in Mind, Plastic Planet, Planeat, and The Pipe.

Films will be launched in Cardiff, Leeds, Leicester, London and Glasgow from May 20th until 22nd . For more information visit: www.ukgreenfilmfestival.org.

By Ronja Röckemann

17.04.2011

Ashden Directory & Ashdenizen launch new project to find metaphors for sustainabilty

By Another Name: New Metaphors for Sustainability

To launch the Ashden Directory and Ashdenizen’s major new project on metaphors for sustainability, a new DVD was just released, devised and directed by Wallace Heim.

“Sustainability is a concept without strong or imaginative metaphors. Over the next months, we’ll ask artists, scientists, activists and cultural commentators to suggest a metaphor for sustainability.”

The first four responses are presented in the embedded video. (The film is shown at the Staging Sustainability conference, York University, Toronto, 20 – 22 April 2011.)  Updates from the project will be posted on the Ashden directory: http://www.ashdendirectory.org.uk/news.asp

By Sacha Kagan

20.03.2011

New artist call “Cool Stories For When The Planet Gets Hot III” launched

 

ARTPORT making waves is an international art project which raises awareness of current social and political issues worldwide through theme-oriented exhibitions, residency programs and artists collaborations, proudly presents the third edition of its video contest “Cool Stories For When The Planet Gets Hot” on global warming.

After two successful editions, for the third edition ARTPORT collaborates with CINEMA PLANETA, the award-winning International Environmental Film Festival in Cuernavaca, Mexico. We invite video artists worldwide to participate with works that explore global warming, focusing on forests in honor of the United Nations International Year of Forests 2011. Artists are encouraged to tell us their stories about deforestation or tree planting and its positive effects; they may also opt to approach the topic of symbolic, psychological or socio-political significances of forests. Our aim is to present a convincing survey of the current artistic exploration of this topic worldwide with 20 etablished and emerging artists, edited into a visually and conceptually coherent compilation by ARTPORT_making waves. The final winner will be awarded an artist residency.

Deadline for submitting proposals is May 9, 2011.

For more information: www.artport-project.org or ARTPORT Making Waves Artist Call

By Sacha Kagan

12.10.2010

Performing Ecology, a Vision for the Gulf of Mexico

PlantcamPlease join Aviva Rahmani for the launch of two new films, Desecration and Resurrection. The premiere is part of the eartotheearth festival www.emfproductions.org
As the British Petroleum oil spill unfolded in the Gulf of Mexico, a restored intertidal salt marsh in the Gulf of Maine was coming back to life.

Performing Ecology, a Vision for the Gulf of Mexico.

These two six minute films will be shown in conjunction with a 45 minute workshop on Trigger Point Theory, Aviva Rahmani’s art and science initiative for land and water restoration, developed from the Ghost Nets (ghostnets.com) project. Read more »

By Sacha Kagan