VIDEOKILLS International Video Arts Festival 2009 (V:InVAF)

Do we need any more AV festivals? Being in the throes of the multimedia/digital age, are they just getting started or will we continue to be challenged by AV? Let’s see.

VIDEOKILLS, a Berlin based video art collective, is hosting its first
International Video Arts festival, taking place in Berlin from 26 August - 30 2009. As it’s their first year, and I love Berlin, I thought it might be worth flagging this up to you in the even you might be there later this summer.

VIDEOKILLS hold the following philosophy “accessibility, open exchange of art and ideas, and a dedication to the preservation, invention and evolution of the medium of video art.” I'm open to that. I subscribe to that notion.


The festival will showcase works from international artists in the form of video installations, video art, experimental, narrative and documentary short films. In addition, VIDEOKILLS will host a SKYPE symposium series where scholars and video artists from around the world will lecture and participate in panel discussions on a wide range of topics from art to technology. There are also a series of Workshops scheduled to coincide with symposium topics, focusing on techniques and innovation. This reminds me a bit of Sally Potter’s new film “Rage”, which you can read all about in the next issue of Aesthetica. No swimming pools though...FYI – we’re re-branding and I’m bloody excited.

The festival will take place at STATTBAD-Wedding, which once served as an indoor swimming complex, and now acts as a versatile and dynamic space for concerts, festivals, and myriad other events. We will curate the festival with the unique possibilities of the space in mind. The swimming pools will act as projection spaces and viewing rooms, as will the basement spaces, utility areas, and underbelly of the Stattbad. Artists will create site-specific work, which utilizes the aesthetic layout of the space.



And here’s the plug for Berlin according to VIDEOKILLS “Berlin is a city of re-invention. Part of the importance and gravity of using an old space to display contemporary work allows for a dialogue to take place between past and present. By bringing together artists from around the world to share and view contemporary video art in a re-appropriated space, we hope to transcend and re-define the old, not by abandoning our history, but by fusing it with the new.” I buy that.



VIDEOKILLS International Video Arts Festival 2009 (V:InVAF) is curated by

Curators: JJ Hurvich, Emma Pike, and Tiphaine Shipman
www.thepostraum.com

All images courtesy of VIDEOKILLS © 2009

A few more images of the Vhils exhibition

After Monday's post, I received a rather lovely email from photographer, Ian Cox offering more images of Alexandre Farto's show at Lazarides. You can see why Lazarides is taking a chance on the 22-year old.









Any comments?

Images courtsey Ian Cox (c)2009

VHILS (AKA Alexandre Farto), Scratching The Surface at Lazarides this Summer

The first UK solo show from Vhils, AKA Alexandre Farto (b.1987), features a series of new works inspired by his native city of Lisbon at a time of revolution.

I love Lazarides Gallery. I feel that the gallery takes chances with artists, and shows the type of art that has momentum and a wider meaning. Being the first gallery to show Farto’s work in the UK, especially with Farto being only 22 is a risk, particularly in this economy when galleries need to be selling artwork. So – I am even more inspired and impressed with Lazarides. Outsiders, compiled by Steve Lazarides was a fantastic collection on urban art, have you picked up that book yet?

Farto’s show, entitled Scratching the Surface, reflects on revolution as a time when walls turn into instruments of communication and hope for the masses, and the remnants of which become a decaying playground for this young artist as he searches for his place and identity.

By re-contextualising the urban setting, Vhils explores and questions the many dimensions of cities and their inhabitants in a series of playful works. Focusing on the people that inhabit the artist’s multicultural environment Vhils draws attention to the layers that underlie it. A set of portraits of unknown faces use unconventional techniques and materials; acid and bleach eat into surfaces to expose the layers beneath, the act of destruction becoming an act of creation, posters that exemplify a consumer society are subtly converted into objects poignantly celebrating humankind.

In his street work he discards posters, metal and paper and comes face to face with the rawness of the naked wall. He continues his celebration of the humanity underlying the urban canvas, this time by scratching beautiful portraits directly onto its walls. Vhils has exhibited in major European cities as well as in the USA, and most recently he was invited to take part in the widely acclaimed ‘Tunnel 228’ show in London's Waterloo.

The exhibition will coincide with the launch of his new book: Scratching the Surface, the show continues until 1 August 2009. www.lazinc.com

Image credit: (c) Alexandre Farto