October, 5: Buenos Aires, Argentina
A screening program in a partnership with VideoBardo (Video poetry) created by Javier Robledo 20 years ago, in the self-managed factory IMPA in Buenos Aires.
Dakhla / Mauricio Saenz (Mexique) Parking Lot Attendant / Charlotte Clermont & Alain Lefebvre (Canada) In Motion / Anabela Costa (Portugal / France) Share Peace / Susanne Wawra (Allemagne / Irlande) Beach Drawings Rekawa / Srinivas Mangipudi (Inde) Forever in a Day / Eden Mitsenmacher (France / Pays-Bas) Contemplation is watching / Susanne Wiegner (Allemagne) Smoke signals / Fran Orallo (Espagne/Ecosse) mooon / Ottar Ormstad (Norvège) Red Lights and a Solstice Moon / Jason Moyes (Ecosse) Unusual / Albert Negredo (Espagne) Eclipse / Emilia Izquierdo (Chili / GB) Oh, You Sweet, Feminine, Feminist Artist / Secret Sauna Sirens (Finlande / USA)
August 24 to September 26: Bibliotheca Art Centre, Alexandria, Egypt
For the 2nd Video Art Exhibition of Alexandria, we state that Video art is Hypathia + electricity. Bibliotheca Art Centre Hypatia of Alexandria, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher was murdered in 415 by the enemies of science and thought. Each time I come to Alexandria, I can feel Hypatia’s heartbeat in each woman I meet. This is how I fall in love with the city and its inhabitants. In 2017, intelligence and knowledge are still threatened all over the world, and even more if it is embodied by women. This is why I choose to pay a tribute to all the nowadays Hypatia who express their sensitive intelligence with art.Ten artworks forming a choir from which emerges an emancipation song, sometimes serious, sometimes happy. Video art is Hypatia + electricity. A western tradition holds that pictorial art is a window open on the world, as if the world had been created to please human eye. But things can be seen differently. For instance, thinking about the famous construction in Gourna (a village next to Luxor) build by the architect from Alexandria Hassan Fathy. A large barred window allows the daylight to reach the walls and the ground. The eye doesn’t face outward but inward. These ten artworks stand at the conjunction of these two possible movements of the eye, inside/outside, the inner/the other, the intimate/the world.. The specificity of video art may also lies at this intersection.
Match (2015) / Esméralda da Costa (Portugal / France) Green tea cup: collectivities (6’25 – 2017) / Cheryl Pagurek (Canada) Yellow Tea Cup: Refugees at Sea (2’58 – 2016) / Cheryl Pagurek (Canada) Last Words (4′ – 2017) / Nicène Kossentini (Tunisia) Preface to Damyang Pavilion2 (3′ – 2014) / Yeh YiLi (Taïwan) Future in the Past (7’07 – 2015) / Susanne Wiegner (Germany) Positions (10’20 – 2016) / Kristina Paustian (Russia/Germany) Affordable Dreams (6′ – 2017) / Sandrine Deumier (France) Dadaloop (10’ – 2015) / Francesca Fini (Italy) Greffes / Graft (2012) Samar Elbaraouy (Egypt)
August 18 to September 3: Kyrgyz National Fine Arts Museum in Bishkek, Kirghizistan
In the frame of the Nomadic Art Camp, organized by Б’Art Contemporary, an artistic program under the title Beauty has to be reinvented. But what is beauty? Beauty cannot be taken for granted. It goes beyond us, it makes us feel more intense, more light, more deep. It springs up when a woman or a man upheaves. Look beyond the skyline. This line may be in the deep inside of yourself. We need to learn again how to pay attention to the world if we want to become more than the spectators of our own life.
Smoke signals (3’28 – 2017) / Fran Orallo (Spain/Scotland) Red Lights and a Solstice Moon (2′ – 2016) / Jason Moyes (Scotland) Scarecrow (7’48 – 2015) / Ameneh Zamani (Iran) Video (8’ – 2016) / Samuel Bester (France) Disparitions (6’38 – 2014) / Inés Wickmann (Colombia/France) It’s Stonewall in My Navel (7’35 – 2016) / Laurel Beckman (USA) Cartoline Video (20’09 – 2016) / Marc Mercier (France) & Matteo Fadda (Italy)
Tuesday, June 20: World Refugee Day
Because in front of the unashamedly cruelty of wealthy nations, once and for all let’s require a radical hospitality to the only real wealth of the world : the others. The poets state that decently the crime of solidarity should not exist (Patrick Chamoiseau in Our migrants brothers / Frères migrants) A screening program, poetic video art touch for a day of exchanges, debates, encounters (Philosophy-café, photo exhibition, food sharing, art…), organised by a group of social workers from Marseille (from 2pm, Friche la Belle de Mai).
Yellow Tea Cup: Refugees at Sea (2’58 – 2016) / Cheryl Pagurek (Canada) Cartoline Video (20’09 – 2016) / Marc Mercier (France) & Matteo Fadda (Italy)
June, 12 to 15: /si:n/ Festival of art vidéo and performance – 5th edition
Co-founder of the festival in 2007, we curated this year an exhibition untitled All of the power to poetic imagination! that will be presented in Birzeit University Museum, with:
Last Words / Nicène Kossentini (Tunisia) (video) (8’ – 2016) / Samuel Bester (France) Future in the Past (7’07 – 2015) / Susanne Wiegner (Germany)
Full program here: https://www.instantsvideo.com/blog/en/archives/2914 Facebook
April, 25 to 29: we will take part in the 23rd edition of the International video art festival FIAV in Casablanca (Morocco), and we invite Aix en Provence School of Art to present some students works.
● 3 installations: Ambush / Embuscade (3’ – 2015) / Aline X & Gustavo Jardim (Brazil) + Match (2015) / Esméralda da Costa (France) + Cartoline Video (20’09 – 2016) / Marc Mercier (France) & Matteo Fadda (Italy) ● 1 sound performance: RĕcoRdātĭo #2 (2015/2017) / Esmeralda da Costa (France) ● 4 screening programs: 1) Feminine State of poetic emergency Scarecrow (7’48 – 2015) / Ameneh Zamani (Iran) + état d’urgence / état d’un corps (2’40 – 2016) / Aurèle Dumaret (France) + La mariée dérobée (un essai jamais concluant) (42’10 – 2016) / Marc Mercier (France) 2) The eye at work La preuve par Prince (5’12 – 1988) / Serge Daney (France) + video (8’ – 2016) / Samuel Bester (France) + L’Égée ou le trou du cul de la mort (7’21 – 2014) / Eleni Gioti (Greece) + Méduse (3’03 – 2014) / Emilie Marchand (Canada) + Water Box (2’16 – 2014) / Esmeralda da Costa (France) + Yellow Tea Cup: Refugees at Sea (2’58 – 2016) / Cheryl Pagurek (Canada) + Seventeen Point Plan (3’ – 2015) / Christin Bolewski (Germany) + Stray Dogs (8’53 – 2017) / François Lejault (France) + We teach life, Sir (4’30 – 2011) / Rafeef Ziadah (Palestine/GB) ` 3) Beauty has to be reinvented Awakening (1’40 – 2016) / Arzu Yayıntaş (Turkey) + Fractalegance (0’51 – 2016) / Rawan Obaid (Palestine/UAE) + Silk (0’44 – 2016) / Reem Zaghmout & Malak Elghuel (Belize/Libya) + Live Fire Exercise (7’58 – 2016) / Ζακ Σπορ (Zak Spor) (Greece) + Out of Necktie (5’28 – 2016) / Moslem AlJubouri (Irak) + Pardon (2’24 / 2016) / Khadija Baker (Syria/Canada) + Disparitions (6’38 – 2014) / Inés Wickmann (Colombie/France) + Comme si (4’29 – 2016) / Nicole Jolicoeur (Québec) + Leda (23′ – 2010) / François Lejault (France) 4) Works by students from the School of arts presented by François Lejault Pneuma (6’50 – 2015) / Belal Mohamed Ali, Yohan Dumas, Akram Heidar, Masahiro Suzuki Grimace (1’00 – 2013) / Saïd Rais Conversations silencieuses ( 2’30 – 2013) / Trecy Afonso, Nada Rezq, Samar Amir, Marguerite Reinert Sea Food (0’45- 2013) / Ahmed Abulnasr, Karim Aboukelila, Eman Hamdy, Maëlys Rebuttini, Nourine Shenawy Avant que J’oublie (5’55 – 2016) / Gaëtan Trovato + Sus scrofa (2’03 – 2016) / Chloé Vivien + La dame blanche (3’47 – 2015) / Mona Ricci, Clément Collange + Les eaux troubles (1’30 – 2016) / Charlotte Causse + Cry Cry Baby (1’57 – 2016) / Krizova Barbora + Une route (1’25 – 2015) / Gaulthier Le Thous Sikhism (1’14 – 2016) / Elody Sanchis + Merci Norman (2’04 – 2016) / Johanna Thomas + Bugne Bugne (0’57- 2016) / Julien Calemard + Metro (1’14 – 2016) / Minwoo Jun + Tetris (1’22 – 2016) / Nina Sivager + Orchestre (3’06 – 2013) / Hye Young Park + Control Game (2’20 – 2016) / Xilun You
March 22 to 26: in Tunisia (Sousse – Mahdia), we are participating in a workshop organised by Les Yeux de l’Ouïe (Les Yeux de L’Ouïe To open possibles to think the images of prison
– 3 screenings, as a poelitic exploration of our own imprisonments; at the Cultural space Tisiri in Sousse.
Real life is somewhere else The future (3’59 – 2014) / Gouri Mounir (Algeria) The Cage (5’45 – 2016) / Marcantonio Lunardi (Italie) Libération (1’14 – 2015) / Khadija Elabyad (Morocco) Yellow Tea Cup: Refugees at Sea (2’58 – 2016) / Cheryl Pagurek (Canada) Scarecrow (7’48 – 2015) / Ameneh Zamani (Iran) Unfair prisons Oh là là du narratif (12’37 – 1997) / Sylvie Laliberté (Quebec) Pour Cesare Vannini (2’20 – 2009) / Giney Ayme (France) What is the word for almond tree flower? Polyphonie Poétique Urbaine (Ramallah) (9’41 – 2011) / Marc Mercier (France) & Kefah Fanni (Palestine) We teach life, Sir (4’30 – 2011) / Rafeef Ziadah (Palestine/GB)
– Taking part to the round table The Tunisian experience, with the members of the workshop of the prison in Mahdia, and about their art creations; at the Civilian Prison in Mahdia. – Participation in the meeting Experiences and artistic projects in Euro-mediterranean, with teams working in prisons; at Sousse School of arts. – Screening of La Germination de l’Utopie (30′ – 2001) / Marc Mercier (France), at the cinema Le Palace, Sousse. – Attendance to the encounter What is at stake in artistic forms; at the Art school in Sousse.
Since 2012, the association Les Yeux de l’Ouïe and its partners, are leading a series of long-term workshops of creation in prisons as well as cinematographic dialogues with the civil society. With theatre, cinema, digital arts, the teams of professionals and the inmates explored the potentials of artistic creation and grasp spaces of freedom within the prison.
Tuesday, February 21 (5pm), Nimes University: invited by the Publisher L’art-dit.fr ,
Marc Mercier and Martial Gérez will have a conversation on the theme “Zappingjunkies” (Zappeurs-nés). A way to participate in a book in the process of being written.
January, 28th at 5pm: we are invited by Grains de lumière to present a screening program in FRAC Marseille (Regional Contemporary Arts Fund)
EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE IN MIDDLE EAST “There comes a time when things have to be made differently” (a sentence heard in the film Everything is going fine by Jean-Luc Godard)
Video art is contemporary of a time when nobody wants to face reality. I didn’t say front view, reality can be discreet. What I am speaking about is we facing up to our responsibilities as human beings. We do know (how to escape from the information overflow we get) that an unimaginable tragedy is happening above, below and around the Mediterranean. But there is a voice that keeps telling us “Move along, there’s nothing out there.” And the voice is not wrong in that. As Bertold Brecht used to say, we are living in “dark times”. And frightened by the darkness, we keep saying everything is going fine to try to feel better. Waiting until it’s over. Getting used to it. And in the end, we don’t even expect anything to happen. No more desire. Darkness becomes our only horizon. Not further than the tip of our nose. And here comes identity and obscurantist mania. Or we might think that horror is a human mistake. And that humanity is very very human. What good would it do to pay attention to our mistakes? Everything is fine. Everything will be fine. And one day, we get our head out of the sand and realise that there is no more art. There are visuals, everywhere. There are art works, placed on the market. But in daily life, nothing. Hannah Arendt who caught Brecht’s phrase, asked this question which is equally relevant now: “How to bring Humanity out of these dark times?”. We all have the answer. To keep searching for a ray of light. This is the key, as it has always be throughout the ages. A firefly lighting the way. A poem penned with nails on a wall. A song rising from a prison. A film being made despite censorship. A body dancing amidst ruins. I can’t see any other raison d’être for art: a mound to climb on in order to look further ahead. The art works presented below are glimpses on a world we don’t want to see anymore. They turn angers into songs, dances, poems, let say into a joyful wisdom. But what is joy? It is when the strength both to stand alone and by the others succeed to weariness.
Scarecrew (7’48 – 2015) / Ameneh Zamani (Iran) Statement (2′ – 2012) / Lucia Ahmad (Palestine) Rumeurs (8’30 – 2015) / Nayla Dabaji (Lebanon/Quebec) Silk (0’44 – 2016) / Reem Zaghmout & Malak Elghuel (Belize/Libya) My Motherland (5′ – 2015) / Fazila Amiri & Hangama Amiri (Afghanistan/Canada) Awakening (1’40 – 2016) / Arzu Yayıntaş (Turkey) Chic point (Fashion for israeli checkpoints) (7′ – 2003) / Sharif Waked (Palestine) Damage (2′ – 2009) / Rania Stephan (Lebanon) Loudness Trouble (3’15 – 2015) / Parya Vatankhah (Iran/France) Corrida urbaine (3’15 – 2008) / Marc Mercier (France) Sabra & Chatilla Poem (12’35 – 2011) / Marc Mercier (France)
Friday, January 27, Bezier multimedia library: Youth and migrations in Mediterranean
together with REF & NOUAS , we organised an encounter where we talk about the role of art and culture in debunking preconceived ideas.
Friday, January 27, in the Cinéma Les Variétés (Marseille):
Participation with Altravoce (Plumerage by Giney Ayme) to a screening program organised by the Association des ami.e.s et partenaires du cinéma les Variétés in the frame of the evening “Thanks and congratulations” (the cinema is safe). Variétés
Friday, January 6 in Briançon (Hautes Alpes): international video art screening program State of Poetic Emergency (extra time).
This evening is the last part of a series of video art awareness workshop led in different social work organisations in Gap and Briançon.
Vidéo (8’ – 2016) / Samuel Bester (France) Yellow tea cup : Refugees at sea (2’58 – 2016) / Cheryl Pagurek (Canada) Cartoline Video (20’09 – 2016) / Marc Mercier (France) & Matteo Fadda (Italy) L’Égée ou le trou du cul de la mort (7’21 – 2014) / Eleni Gioti (Greece) Sabra et Chatilla Poème (12’35 – 2011) / Marc Mercier (France) Awakening (1’40 – 2016) / Arzu Yayıntaş (Turkey) Corrida urbaine (3’15 – 2008) / Marc Mercier (France) We teach life, Sir (4’39 – 2011) / Rafeef Ziadah (Palestine/GB)