11 April 2012
Mobile phone film provides a window into the urban soul
A film shot entirely on a mobile phone is the centrepiece of a new exhibition hosted by Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD).
'3 Films' is an exhibition of major works by the acclaimed documentary filmmaker and artist Boris Gerrets. It is centred around Gerrets' multi-award winning 2010 film 'People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am', which received critical acclaim worldwide and embodies his desire "to bring to light life on the fringes".
The exhibition will be held at Centrespace, Visual Research Centre from 14th April - 20th May. The Visual Research Centre is part of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), and is located on the lower floors of Dundee Contemporary Arts. This will be the only Scottish showing of this exhibition.
As part of the exhibition, a unique, in-conversation event will take place featuring Gerrets and the internationally respected art critic and curator Guy Brett. The event will draw out a trajectory of Gerrets' practice in the context of his multi-disciplinary background in arts.
'Zero', a short film of a "captured" landscape, and 'Invisible', a film produced during the artist's two journeys to Iraq in 1995, will also be shown at the exhibition.
Sophia Hao, Curator of Exhibitions at DJCAD, said, "Boris Gerrets is an exceptionally exciting contemporary artist who utilises a multi-disciplinary approach in his work and '3 Films' highlights some of his thought-provoking and limitation-defying practice.
"We are thrilled to be the only venue in Scotland to present Gerrets' celebrated works that have touched and inspired many people around the world. I am very much looking forward to the conversation between the artist and Guy Brett which will unfold the multitude of voices that intertwine in Gerrets' emotive depictions of the contemporary world."
Gerrets' films are close-ups of local environments, which he describes as 'biotopic explorations' and, in the context of the present works, he understands space as being predominantly geographical, political, social and psychological.
Captured on a standard mobile phone, 'People I Could Have Been' evolves from two chance encounters on the streets of London. It has won awards in four different countries and been shown across the world.
Starring Sandrine, an attractive Brazilian young woman on a mission to find a husband, Steve, a seasoned beggar struggling with drug addiction, and Precious, a poet who became Steve's girlfriend, the film gives an unusually close view into their lives.
'Zero' and 'Invisible' ask questions of the limitations and scope of different artistic approaches and aesthetics, whether it be documentary, journalistic or poetic. But shadowing these two films are questions of legitimacy; the question of speaking on behalf of the other and the cogent question of whether a political reality would override the independence of artistic thought and practice.
'3 Films' takes place at Centrespace from Friday, 14th April until Sunday, 20th May.
The In-Conversation event with Boris Gerrets and Guy Brett takes place between 3-4.30pm on Saturday, 19th May and is part of the Ignite 2012 festival, a 10-day celebration of creativity and culture across Dundee, Angus and Fife.
More information about the exhibition can be found at www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/exhibitions/exhibitions/boris-gerrets/.
Notes to editors:
Biography - Boris Gerrets:
Boris Gerrets is an internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker who lives and works between London and Amsterdam. He is also an accomplished visual artist and film-editor. Born into a Bulgarian-German family, he grew-up in the Netherlands, Spain, Sierra Leone and Germany.
Gerrets sees the camera as a tool that creates a social dynamic between him and his protagonists. The editing process is for Gerrets a way of stripping down and reconfiguring what has been garnered in reality, into a phenomenological space that speaks about the human condition. His role as filmmaker and the process of filmmaking is always at issue - either implicitly or explicitly - while he intentionally explores the gap between the factual event and its fictional and poetic meaning. Gerrets' cinematic approach contains a strong performative component and relies heavily on his multidisciplinary.
He is the recipient of a number of grants and has toured and shown his work internationally in museum and gallery exhibitions and video and film festivals. Gerrets' most recent film, People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am (2010) has garnered critical acclaim worldwide, receiving IDFA Best Mid-Length Doc Award (Amsterdam), VISIONS DU RÉEL Best Direction Mid-Length Doc (Nyon), HOTDOCS Honorable Mention (Toronto), BELDOCS FIPRESCI Award (Belgrade), TIME OUT Best City Film Award (London), PÄRNU DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL Most Innovative Documentary and DOKUFEST Best Int'l Feature Documentary Award (Prizren, Kosovo), Golden Calf nomination NFF Utrecht.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
