Nine Artists Films
Nine Artists Films (PG)
17 Jan 2010 – 16:15 (opens at 15:55) at Theatr Mwldan
Penny Jones (’Taith Cranogwen’ & ‘Rant’) | Ruth Jones (Vigil) | Reuben Knutson and Pete Judge (1000 Days) | Rowan O’Neill (Menyw a ddaeth o Gatraeth) | Jake Whittaker (’Taith Cranogwen’ + Three Vinyl) | Simon Whitehead (Anemos) | Sean Vicary (’Sea of Glass’ & Haiku).
In recent years technological advances in film and video have proven to be fertile ground for many contemporary artists, whose work blurs the boundaries between film-making and art. This programme of short films represents the work of seven artists from West Wales and is a unique opportunity to see their work together on the cinema screen.
Rant
“People and communication; what they say and what they mean, to question the “notion of what a person is… involves setting up a situation which welcomes this perhaps anarchic, non-volitional stage of awareness”. Susan Hiller 1996.
Resistance and opposition; the resonance of feminism and struggles of the powerless in relation to the powerful?
Can one be heard and say what one feels?” Penny Jones
Taith Cranogwen
A film by Jake Whittaker based on ideas by Penny Jones that came about during a residency in Llangrannog.
Vigil
Recent work by Ruth Jones has focused on relationships between humans, animals and the land in Pembrokeshire and explores the magnetic pull that particular places have for people. Drawing on mythological crossings between humans and other animals, Ruth’s video installations and public art projects look towards greater fluidity between self, others and the environment.
Vigil explores the presence that Strumble Head Lighthouse has on the surrounding landscape in North Pembrokeshire. Strumble Head was built in 1908, and its rotating beam can be seen for thirty miles in all directions. Every lighthouse has its own distinctive “character”, recognised by a pattern and duration of flashes, in this case one flash every two seconds four times followed by seven seconds of darkness. Vigil explores how this rhythm has permeated the land for over a hundred years, seeping into the psyche of its inhabitants.
The installation also represents the lighthouse as a threshold place, situated between land and sea, day and night and human and animal kingdoms. Using Strumble’s regulated light pattern as a guide for editing both picture and sound, the film invites a quiet contemplation of the internal and external rhythms that influence our daily experiences, rituals and memories.
Menyw a Ddaeth o Gatraeth / A Woman Came from Catterick
“This film was made in response to the artist’s book In Debatable Lands… which takes as its starting point the land between England and Scotland and the tradition of the border ballads. The book is an exploration of identity and conflicting notions of home. My film draws on the medieval Welsh epic Y Gododdin which tells of a battle that took place at Catterick in the 6th century. Catterick remains a site of military significance to today. My Grandmother moved from the area close to Catterick in the mid 50s to settle in rural West Wales.
In my Grandmother’s suitcase I keep the relics of a long forgotten strife…” Rowan O’Neill
3 Vinyl
“Tying Tone Arms (02:42)
(This film was made in response to a call for short films on the theme of restriction and first shown as part of the Real Institute’s ‘Really Restrictive Shorts’ event, Llangollen, 13/01/07. Subsequently it has also screened at Shunt Vaults, London, Projektor at Café Gallery, London, Mission Gallery Open 08 in Swansea.)
Restrictions are fundamental to my work. This film focuses on the most obvious physical restriction. My work generally uses found objects, and my aim is to use them, as much as is possible, in the state in which they are found. Basic repairs are made merely to achieve some sound, with any problems leading to their being discarded playing an important part of the composing process. With turntables I often then intervene further by tying the tone arm back in order to interrupt normal play. The work is then produced live without headphones or post-production, using randomly selected loops from often randomly selected records. By making work in this way I hope to reassess the nature of the objects and their ‘useful’ life, explore memory and notions of musical consistency and examine the ontology of recorded sound.
This study (Tying Tone Arms) of a fundamental part of my composing process is accompanied by a mix of randomly selected loops from records selected by Louise Bird.
Shaky (03:22)
Looks at a particular fault of an old Alba hifi found by a friend some years ago. The audio is from the camera mic.
Panaround (05:14)
A single long pan around the studio, cutting to details on the beat of the loop. The audio is the stuck record shown playing, Bauhaus 79-83 Side 1 (a ‘natural’ loop, ie not tied) recorded on camera mic.
These films document processes and activity in the studio. They provide a nostalgic look at found and faulty hifi equipment, questioning our sentimentality and reverence towards music and past technology.” Jake Whittaker
Anemos
“Anemos” explores the evolution of nature’s breath, the Wind. Personified in the performer, and related to Mankind’s utilisation of it’s power, the Wind is symbolised by the environment that ‘Anemos’ dwells within, where light is generated. This combination of themes; Light, Energy, Wind and Landscape, both external and internal, are blended into a journey from darkness to lightness. The transient, and ethereal nature of the Wind contrasts with the substance of it’s energy and effect, this is translated into both the movement of the performer and the film’s language and structure.
A film by Choreographer Simon Whitehead and Film Maker Margaret Constantas, Performer Stirling Steward
BBC Dance Film Wales commission 2000.
Sea of Glass
Director Sean Vicary
Music Tom Middleton
Sea of Glass from the album Lifetracks released through Big Chill Recordings
Produced by Sean Vicary at Creative Mwldan Creadigidol
The coastal landscape of West Wales provides the setting for this short film.
Organic detritus is manipulated and juxtaposed with music and photography in order to explore the liminal space between land and sea.
The animation has evolved from an original piece produced as part of an audio visual performance with the composer Tom Middleton at the National Film Theatre, London.
Tickets from Theatr Mwldan £4.20 / £5.50
