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The first of the Avantoscope series presents
fresh’n’tasty short films that share J.S.Bach’s
dream of ”finding an optical equivalent for the temporal
structure of musical composition”. Bart Vegter’s
perplexing Forest-Views is ”dynamic architecture of
light”, like a slowly moving ornament or a sparkling 3D oil
painting. The most radical film in the short history of Avanto
so far! Ian Helliwell continues
to explore the sources of total film. We will screen three of
his latest reports, culminating in the aggressive and rough-yet-beautiful
Patterns of Interference. Myriam Bessette, Seppo
Renvall, the Pfaffenbichler/Schreiber duo and Paul
Kaiser are all artists that specialize in formalist film making,
relentlessly searching for the intriguing ”freezing point”
of cinema. The abstract images of Joost Rekveld’s
magnificent Cinemascope Film #11 (Marey <-> Moiré)
resemble a radar screen gone awry and represent ”visual music”
at its most imposing. Bas van Koolwijk’s and reMI’s
(Renate Oblak & Michel Pinter) work is based on overloading
the capacity of a computer and on the aesthetic of the ensuing
disorder and dark humour.
As something of a contrast, Avantoscope
II offers ”substance” and ”deeper meaning”
for those who miss it. Jari
Haanperä’s latest film, Indoor Light,
takes place inside a refrigerator. Its expressionistic “product
placement” horror imagery gives rise to associations with
food-and-mouth disease. Meat IS murder! The films by Semiconductor
are a rare breed of computer animation: hilarious yet ominously
unsettling. ”Retropolis”, their greatest achievement,
depicts a London of the future – in an apocalyptic cardboard
setting. Rosa Barba, also, shot her film in artificial
locations - in the control rooms and pavilion lounges of the Expo
2000 World Fair in Hannover. The Austrian Plan-c collective
and Pekka Sassi sink their teeth in the helplessness of
the downtrodden individual at the mercy of a faceless system.
Jon Wozencroft - the visual mastermind of the Touch record
label - has made a name for himself as a graphic designer and
lately also as a music video director. His simple stroke of genius
is in combining ”cold” and ”post-industrial”
electronic music with sensuous images of nature. Ömer
Ali Kazma, from Istanbul, provides us with a whirling dervish-like
collage of family hell (or heaven). The collaboration between
Gustav Deutsch and Christian
Fennesz, Tradition Is the Handing On of Fire, Not the Worshipping
of Ashes is named after a quote by Mahler, and consists of
images of burning apartment buildings. The Trailer, commissioned
by the Austrian Film Archive, pays an apt homage to the conservation
of cinematic tradition. Gustav Holthuis’ beautiful
City at Night continues a long line of classical urban
movies. A depiction of a night in a European city in 2001, it
evokes memories of Godard’s Alphaville. MT
Friday 9.11.2001 - Kiasma Theatre
18:00 - Avantoscope I screenings
Saturday 10.11.2001
- Kiasma Theatre
18:00 - Avantoscope II screenings
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