If we can think of Cinema as a garden, it's not difficult to see that in its present state it has been left unkept and rapidly wilting. The tyranny of content streams, our shrinking and disappearing screens and the alienated viewers with their attentions turned into an exploitable resource are all proof of the diminishing returns brought forth by the neglect of the communal cinematic experience. As a response, six European artist-run film labs – Baltic Analog Lab (Riga), Laia/Torre (Porto), Crater-Lab (Barcelona), Mire (Nantes), Filmwerkplaats (Rotterdam) and LaborBerlin (Berlin) – have partnered to develop SPECTRAL (Spatial Performative & Expanded Cinematics - Transnational Research at Artist-run Labs) with the goal of supporting the creation of new works of live analogue cinema that will plant the seeds of a flourishing garden of cinema. (Anja Dornieden)
Starting in 2023, for each of the next three Oberhausen film festivals, two of the Spectral labs will select pieces from the field of expanded cinematic art. These works will be partly created in residencies offered in their respective cities to local and international artists. On show will be works that venture beyond the constraints of the passive cinema to propose an engaged, shared experience of the inimitable ritual of flickering light and shadow.
April 29, 11pm
LABORBERLIN PROGRAM
curated by Ricardo Brunn
DISTANT FEELER, Ojoboca (Anja Dornieden, Juan David Gonzalez), slides, live spoken sound, 2023
PLANT TIME, Luisa Greenfield, 16mm loop, live spoken sound, 2021
INSCRIPTION, ENDURING, POTENTIAL, Maja Milić, Super 8, slides, sound, 2023
April 30, 11pm
FILMWERKPLAATS PROGRAM
HUE SHIFT, Nan Wang, multi-media performance, 2023
EBB AND FLOW, Lichun Tseng & Robert Kroos, multiple 16mm projectors, 2023
tickets available here: https://kurzfilmtage.filmchief.com/shop/tickets
