Ben Rivers at Hamburg Kunstverein

Screen shot from Slow Action by Ben Rivers

Nowhere near finished my Hamburg Report. At the Kunstverein was a Ben Rivers show. The first film, with a struggling narrator and a volcano, was the highlight for me. Show details here. Ben Rivers here.

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Electronic Superhighway (2016-1966)

Piled out of The Old Hairdresser’s and onto the sleeper to this symposium at the Whitechapel a couple of weeks ago. Sadie Plant argued for a feminist web of roads, cars veering off in all directions (no superhighway thanks Nam), Julian Oliver wowed the crowd by writing code during his presentation (and scared us all…

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Vernon & Burns

At the Old Hairdresser’s on Thursday for Vernon & Burns’ latest – and it was magic. As was Torsten’s digital wallpaper with player piano (I know!) and Anneke Kampman’s assured performance. Listen to other works by Anneke here.

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British Art Show 8

Apart from the superb contribution by long time/term fav. & friend of the podcast Ciara Phillips, I was pretty underwhelmed by BAS8 at the Modern 1 and Inverleith House last week. Highlights were Simon Fujiwara‘s video Hello and the middle portion of Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin’s Dodo. Always good to check in on Charlotte…

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Scottish Competition – I’m Deranged

White Wash Death Watch was one of the least deranged of this selection. To be fair, I’ve made more engaging films (on reflection, WWDW seems a little like an exercise or a test of the original), but it held up ok in this context. Funny when an ‘art film’ as they tend to be called at film festivals is popped…

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Ohna Falby Masterclass at GSSF

Highlight of this GSSF session with producer Ohna Falby was Jane and Louise Wilson’s The Toxic Camera. Plus, I now know what a producer does. It’s permissions, it’s money and it’s the oiling of things. Also great was a clip from Clara Van Gool’s Voices of Finance. Still not seen all of Rachel MacLean’s Feed Me,…

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Hitchcock/Truffaut

Into the GFT on Friday for this Hitch love-in. Kent Jones’ documentary is a neat reminder that Hitchcock was considered a light entertainer until the lads from Cahiers du cinéma built a new narrative. Truffaut dead at 52, just two years after Hitch.

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This Is Now – Film and Video after Punk

Popped into this Glasgow Film Festival compilation of film and video at the Tramway yesterday and caught these: THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY (15.55– 17.10) Provocative filmmakers in the early 1980s pursued occult interests, treating the moving image like a mirror or a crystal ball; a surface of divination to remap perception and question distinctions between…

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