[spectre] Soft season at inIVA: Film programme

[Natasha Anderson]

Institute of International Visual Arts


Friday, 29 November, 2.00pm at TheSpace@inIVA, 6-8 Standard Place, =
Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3BE

Work and Non-Work: A video screening curated and introduced by Anthony =
Iles

Thanks to all of you who made it down to the discussion last Friday at =
TheSpace@inIVA.=20

As part of inIVA's Soft season of exhibitions and debates, Anthony lles =
presents an afternoon of films, which looks at the current conditions =
and aesthetics of work. By screening a series of films that cast an eye =
at the minutae of labour, we hope to present you with an opportunity to =
reflect upon your own positions within the work non-work nexus. Whether =
it be 'occasional labour in the cultural industry', the less salacious =
daily grind in the city, the unpaid labour which accounts for half this =
country's wealth, or the indispensable provision of an overqualified =
labour surplus.=20

Featuring artist's films, activist documentary, gems from the history of =
sociology, the screening seeks to get under the skin of the habitual, =
the commonplace, of what goes by the name of 'the general interest'. The =
event assumes its place within 'Outsourcing' as not just another chain =
in a producing machine, another opportunity to consider the shifting =
roles of culture - makers, but a situation which begs the question: 'for =
whom do we work?'.=20

Artists include: Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Year Zero, Ursula Biemann, =
Humphrey Jennings and Black Audio Film Collective (John Akomfrah) Please =
see below for more information.

Refreshments provided.

The Films
Mierle Laderman Ukeles - Sanman's Place 28mins 1980/ World of Art; works =
in Progress  28mins. 1986
In 1969, "frazzled and dazzled" by the requirements of surviving as an =
artist while being a new mother, Mierle Ukeles wrote The Manifesto for =
Maintenance Art: "Care." Starting with personal maintenance, the work =
broadened to the maintenance of cultural institutions, urban and =
societal maintenance, and sustaining the earth itself. From 1977-80, the =
artist interacted with the entire New York City Department of Sanitation =
in the ground-breaking Touch Sanitation Performance.=20

Year Zero - The Occupation. 26mins. 2001
Regeneration and gentrification in the East End Plot your place  in the =
social cleansing of a city; join in the consultations; include  yourself =
out. Benedict Seymour and David Panos' film looks at the rapid and =
disorientating transformations occurring not only to the physical fabric =
of the east end but through the social imaginary - work, housing, =
leisure and time itself.=20

Ursula Biemann - Performing the Border, video-essay,  45 min. 1999.
A video essay set in the Mexican-US border town Ciudad Juarez, where the =
U.S. industries assemble their electronic and digital equipment, located =
right across from El Paso, Texas. <performing the border> looks at the =
border as both a discursive and a material space constituted through the =
performance and management of gender relations. The video discusses the =
sexualization of the border region through labour division, =
prostitution, the expression of female desires in the entertainment =
industry, and sexual violence in the public sphere. Interviews, scripted =
voice over, quoted text on the screen, scenes and sounds recorded on =
site, as well as found footage are combined to give an insight into the =
gendered conditions inscribed in the border region

Humphrey Jennings - Spare Time 35/16mm, bw, 18 mins, 1939.
Although made for the GPO, Spare Time was in fact a Mass Observation =
film about the ways in which people in the industrial areas of Britain =
spend their free time. Its very title suggests how removed Jennings was =
from the dominant philosophy of Griersonian documentary because this =
film does not glorify the dignity of labour but shows instead the =
working classes producing their own culture. There is an expressive use =
of sounds and music and a surreal quality about the landscape which =
prefigures much
=20
Black Audio Film Collective (John Akomfrah) -.Handsworth Songs, 16mm =
film, video, color, sound, 58 min 1986 Black Audio Film Collective was =
one of the film and video workshop collectives set up in the 1980s in =
the aftermath of inner city protests against British Institutional =
racism. As part of a movement for greater cultural and political =
representation for and by black people in Britain, it can be seen as =
part of the ongoing process of Britain's post-colonial history. =
Handsworth Songs, (1986, directed by John Akomfrah), was their most =
controversial work.

We look forward to seeing you on Friday.

inIVA Team