Negative Space

@ ART FLEA Good Shed , Stroud.

Negative Space will be at this weekend's Art Flea event at the Goods Shed, Stroud. Installed in SVA's long-suffering van, we'll be showing a special programme of short films by directors as various as John Smith, Guy Maddin and Nick Abrahams, all of which are to be viewed while wearing shorts* - and drinking shorts!

MORE INFORMATION ON ART FLEA HERE:
... http://artflea.wordpress.com
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Looking forward to tonight's opening of The Sky Has To Turn Black Before You Can See The Stars, a new work by Siobhan Hapaska created for the Goods Shed in Stroud - also the venue for next week's screening of Come And See, which will be introduced by Siobhan.

Selected by artist Siobhán Hapaska to accompany her Site Festival installation The Sky Has To Turn Black Before You Can See The Stars, Elem Klimov's visionary 1985 epic is a startling and shocking evocation of the destablising effects of war.
Following the experiences of a teenage conscript in the Soviet Army during the Nazi occupation of Byelorussia in 1943, moments of tenderness and absurdist humour are shattered by eruptions of extreme violence. With the forests and open plains of Belarus rendered in hallucinatory colours, the result is both brutal and strangely beautiful – at least up until a devastating climax which prefigures the Chapman brothers's version of Hell.
We're also delighted to announce that Siobhán Hapaska will be attending to introduce the film.

Looking forward to next week's screening of Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman.
Trailer and short review by The New Yorker's Richard Brody here: http://www.newyorker.com/…/dvd-of-the-w eek-jeanne-dielman.h…
Plus, new hand-crafted poster by Helen Kincaid now on display at SVA!

The fourth in our short season of films which have inspired visual artists is Chantal Akerman's three-hour study of the daily routine of a middle-aged widow, Jeanne Dielman.
Made in 1975 when the Belgian director was just 24, its ground-breaking use of long, static takes has made the film a touchstone for artists working in film and video - not least Tacita Dean.
Of seeing the film for the first time, Dean recalls: "I remember how radical its length was, and how Akerman created tension through languor and boredom rather than through any sort of action. I thought it was an amazing film."

The third in our short season of films which have inspired visual artists is Peter Robinson's 1972 documentary on Scottish psychiatrist R D Laing. A key film in the Direct Cinema movement, it has also been hailed as a "great influence" by Turner Prize-nominated artist and filmmaker Luke Fowler. Doors 8pm, screening starts 8.30pm.

Next week's screening is a double bill featuring Tina Goes Shopping and Tina Takes a Break, a pair of visceral comedies directed by Penny Woolcock. For more details, click on the Events link above, or see our latest poster - now on display in SVA's shop window.

For our second in a short season of films which have inspired visual artists, Negative Space presents two uncompromising comedies, Tina Goes Shopping (1999) and Tina Takes a Break (2001), both directed by Penny Woolcock - cited as a major inspiration by British filmmaker and artist Clio Barnhard (The Arbor).
Made in collaboration with the residents of a tough Leeds council estate, Woolcock's films sit somewhere between documentary and fiction. Using the real life stories of t...he estate residents - in Tina Goes Shopping a single mum steals to order for her "shopping" business; in Tina Takes a Break she tries to organise a holiday in Blackpool - Woolcock says she made the films as fiction so she could tell the truth, an approach that Barnhard has cited as a key influence: "The paradox that you can't tell the truth by making a documentary has fascinated me for a long time and is at the root of my current practice."
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Thanks to everyone who came down to last night's screening - and apologies for the technical issues with the short film. See below for a link to the video on YouTube.
Also, for anyone interested in reading more about Heart Of Glass and its place in Herzog's career, here's a couple of links:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs. dll/article…
... http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php…
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Our next screening, of Werner Herzog's startling 1976 feature Heart Of Glass, is next Thursday at SVA. Hand-crafted poster now on display in John Street shop window.

Beginning a short season of films which have inspired visual artists, Negative Space presents Werner Herzog’s startling 1976 feature Heart Of Glass, frequently cited as an inspiration by British filmmaker and artist Ben Rivers.
Doors open 8pm; screening starts 8.30pm
TRAILER: http://youtu.be/bXE3KfeQF7U

A stark, lyrical and affecting parable from the great French director Robert Bresson, this 1966 masterwork takes as its subject a humble donkey (named with wry irony after one of the Three Wise Men), following his trials as he’s passed from owner to owner and made the object of human cruelty - and love - along the way. A modern classic, described by Jean-Luc Godard as depicting “the world in an hour and a half.”
Tickets: £4 (non-members) /£3 (members)

The Moon And The Sledgehammer - screening tonight at SVA. A must-see for all those who attended the Andrew Kötting and Ben Rivers events last month!

Cult 1971 documentary about a family living “wild” in woodland just 20 miles outside London. Shut off from the modern world, they spend their time cultivating vegetables, tinkering with steam engines and playing a disintegrating piano. Quirky and moving, the film’s recent re-release saw it hailed as lost classic by a new generation of British filmmakers, including Andrew Kötting and Ben Rivers. “You’ll hardly believe your eyes” - Andrew Kötting.
TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXMYY1QlRt w

Many thanks to Andrew Kötting for his fascinating, invigorating talk at SVA last night. For more information on his forthcoming film project, Swandown, see below.

Very special event at SVA on 17 May featuring This Our Still Life, the latest film by acclaimed artist-filmmaker Andrew Kötting, who will discuss his work and answer questions after the screening.

Negative Space presents a screening of This Our Still Life, a startling and poetic reflection on life at acclaimed artist-filmmaker Andrew Kötting’s ramshackle home-from-home in the Pyrenees. Realised with typical visual invention and absurdist humour, it confirms Kötting as a radical and compelling voice in contemporary British filmmaking. “There is no one quite like him in cinema.” - Iain Sinclair
For more information, there's an illuminating recent interview with Andrew Kötting here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/…/andrew-kott ing-this-our-still-l…

Negative Space will be at this weekend's Art Flea event at the Goods Shed, Stroud. Installed in SVA's long-suffering van, we'll be showing a special programme of short films by directors as various as John Smith, Guy Maddin and Nick Abrahams, all of which are to be viewed while wearing shorts* - and drinking shorts!

MORE INFORMATION ON ART FLEA HERE:
... http://artflea.wordpress.com
See More

Very special event at SVA on 17 May featuring This Our Still Life, the latest film by acclaimed artist-filmmaker Andrew Kötting, who will discuss his work and answer questions after the screening.