Every year, Art Cinema OFFoff organises its own Mass where experimental film and music are worshipped. The 'Nacht van de Experimentele Film' 2017 will take place in the Sint-Autbertus church, part of the Monasterium (Monastery) PoortAckere in the Oude Houtlei. B.A.A.D.M. (a music label from Ghent managed by graphic designers Joris Verdoodt and Mathieu Serruys) and film curator Sofie Verdoodt collaborated to put together the programme. Blasphemous iconoclasts and trance filmmakers from the American avant-garde are accompanied by brand new soundtracks by promising talent from the experimental music scene. Séances and installations complement the programme.
Religion is a sensitive subject these days. More than ever, the demonic and destructive power of religion are a topic of debate. At the same time, there is a remarkable increase of non-Western and alternative expressions of spirituality. The current cult around health taps into Eastern spirituality through yoga and meditation. At Tomorrowland, God is a DJ, as Faithless proclaimed in the nineties. Ecological activism often goes hand in hand with holistic and almost pantheist beliefs. And what about cinema? Several theoreticians (Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag,...) described film screenings in almost mystical terms, as though they were trance-inducing experiences with revitalizing qualities. The Classical Hollywood star system portrayed the Diva as a divine and unreachable being. The French word ‘séance’ brings us back to the ‘cinema of attractions’ and the ‘magic’ of early film which was created by mechanical experiments with ghostly apparitions. Spirituality was never absent in art and cinema, whether it involves the (re)use of Christian symbolism or cultivated paganism.
Programme:
- Tine Guns, To Each His Own Mask, BE, 2017, 42', color, digital
- Maya Deren, Witch's Cradle Outtakes, US, 1943, 10', black-and-white, 16mm- John E. Schmitz, The Voices, VS, 1953, 14', black-and-white, digitalLive soundtrack: Valerio Tricoli (IT)
- James Sibley Watson & Melville Webber, Lot in Sodom, US, 1930, 28', black-and-white, digitally restored versionLive soundtrack: Hiele (BE)
- David Wojnarowicz, A Fire in My Belly, US, 1986-1987, 21', black-and-white and color, digitalLive soundtrack: Liberez (UK)
SÉANCES:- Aleksandr Sokurov, Soldier's Dream, RU, 1995, 12', color, digital- Nina Danino, Communion, UK, 2010, 10', black-and-white, 35mm to digital
+ afterparty with "liquid light show" door Janenk en dj's Mittland Och Leo and B.A.A.D.M.
