The inaugural LUX/ICA Biennial of Moving Images is a four-day celebration of the contemporary moving image, launched by LUX and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. It is the only dedicated biennial of its kind in the UK, consisting of screenings, unique expanded cinema events, performance commissions, and a series of talks and panel discussions encompassing diverse perspectives on contemporary moving image practice. R|R will be there throughout the weekend and will provide regular updates and reviews of the events. We have included a brief rundown of what is taking place this weekend to whet your appetite.
Leading international curators and artists at the festival will include: Rosa Barba, Thomas Beard & Ed Halter (Light Industry), Yann Chateigné Tytelman, Michelle Cotton, Elena Filipovic, Shanay Jhaveri, Martha Kirszenbaum and Ben Rivers. They will present curated collections under titles as diverse as ‘On the Custom of Wearing Clothes’ ‘Subconscious Society’ and ‘Friends with Benefits.’ Other screening collections focus on the work of artists Luther Price and Eric Duvivier. Following an open call for curators held by LUX/ICA, Shama Khanna and Carmen Billows present screenings entitled ‘A Blurred Boundary is Still a Boundary’ and ‘We Only Dream of Places and Resistance.’ All of the artists involved have selected dynamic programmes of moving image works that offer their own unique perspectives on this contemporary practice.
Screening: Nine Films by Luther Price curated by Thomas Beard & Ed Halter
To launch the biennial on Thursday 24th May is a revival of ‘Little Stabs at Happiness,’ the music and film club presented by Mark Webber at the ICA from 1997 to 2000. The evening will feature ‘quiet music and underground films’ before a rare screening of Roberto Rossellini’s The Machine that Kills Bad People (La Macchina Ammazzacattivi), followed up by music to dance to from Little Stabs DJs.
In addition to screenings, the biennial hosts a high-profile series of chaired panel discussions, in association with Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network (FLAMIN), exploring current issues for contemporary artists’ moving image practice. The panel chairs include Bridget Crone, Maeve Connolly, May Adadol Ingawanij, and Stuart Comer.
Ute Aurand, Paulina, 2011, 16mm. Part of Ben River’s Friends WIth Benefits
The students of the LUX/Central Saint-Martins MRes Art: Moving Image course will co-produce a two-day Student Symposium for UK-based postgraduate students to present their research into ideas around ‘On Failure’ and ‘Contemporary Currents’ within moving image practice. Running parallel to the biennial is a 5-day Artists School led by Ian White, offering the curators and artists contributing to the biennial the chance to reflect on their own and the work of others, interrogating the practice and themes of the many artworks in the 4-day event.
Accompanying the festival is a printed programme booklet (which you can preview here) which will be available to buy at the events. The Biennial will also be producing a live journal featuring commentary and analysis of the biennial; take a look at it here. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to celebrate all that is exciting about contemporary moving image artwork.
The festival runs from the 24th – 27th May, and R|R will be there experiencing first hand the exciting and burgeoning moving image culture of the kind hosted at the ICA. Look out for R|R’s responses as the weekend unfolds.
Eric Duvivier, Autoportrait d’un schizophrène, 1977, 16mm
