IDENTITY AND POLITICS
In this programme are works that explore the different and diverse ways that moving image is used to record and to examine not only how we see ourselves but how others see us.
We invited two guest curators to consider the theme of identity and politics. In the first programme there is a selection by SHAPE, the disability led arts organisation and in the second by Vassiliki Tzanakou who recently curated the exhibition Out of Our Heads in 2014.
The connection with performance art is also important to emphasis, both art forms share an irregular history. It is impossible to disconnect one from the other, they are limbs in a way of the same body. Artists working in the moving image have often used themselves as the subject within the work. There are practical reasons for this but these often ‘odd portraits’ also allow us to see the conversation between video art, painting and sculpture, all of which are closely connected
Identity and politics 1
Curated by Ben Fredericks and Tony Heaton for SHAPE
running time: 35’
Artists working in the moving image are asking the same questions that all artist deal with, who we are, where we are and why we are. In this section there are a number of artists including an in-depth view of the artist Katherine Araniello who deals directly with her impairment in a straightforward, confrontational and humorous way. It also includes artists that deal with the body and the mind.
Curated by Vassiliki Tzanakou for ARTinTRA
Ass. Curator: Marta Cacciavillani
Running time: 35:02’’
Identities are not pre-existent nor constitute natural conditions in themselves. They are constructed through human (inter)action which takes place in specific cultural and socio-economical environments and, therefore, are in constant redefinition. Materialism, consumerism, racism, imperialism and individualisation have been leading to the multiplication of fears, social exclusion, isolation, depression and violence. This curated series of immersive short films explores through animation, fiction and abstraction the interactions and impacts that contemporary societies have on one's identity.
