What do psychologists, spiritualists, and filmmakers have in common? Each is in some way concerned with the making-visible of what is normally invisible, whether it be the hidden recesses of the unconscious, the voices of the dead, or the world of human passions as they manifest themselves on our faces and in our gestures. For over two decades, Zoe Beloff has been using cinematic technology as a probe into the collective fantasies of our visual culture, which are not so far removed from the 19th century as we sometimes think. Her work is a sustained exploration of the concept of “medium,” which is never simply a mechanical device but a point of juncture between past and future, here and elsewhere, the visible and the invisible, the living and the dead. The arcane devices she often employs—such as stereoscopic film, 78rpm phonographs, and slide projectors—are more than just quaint relics of a bygone era. They are conduits through which we, too, might commune with the past; they conjure up something of the wonder and the ritual that the earliest spectators of moving images might have felt. As an artist and a thinker, Beloff asks us to ponder what Freud and Coney Island share, what it means to “project” an image into the world, and why the French still refer to film screenings as séances.

Artist In Person!

Curated by Seth Watter

James Harrar's experimental and highly personal film/video images will be viewed with a live musical rendering of soundtracks for each work. The musical concepts are created, directed and performed by Harrar, often with local musicians. The project places attention on exploring the moving image with live performance and when combined, attempts to reveal deeper levels of interpretation within Harrar’s visceral film poems. This presentation also celebrates the early beginnings of cinema, providing live music to support and elevate the silent movie experience.

With the performance, the viewers will experience the spiritual states of mind through Harrar’s visual poetry, comparable to a moving painting.

First session in a series of useful labs in partnership with Le Lieu Unique on the porosities between the experimental image and the documentary: documentary cinema / experimental cinema - borders, influences. This first meeting is devoted to one of the common origins of experimental film and documentary cinema: the first science films from the early twentieth century.

The moving image as an observation, and contemplation tool, of natural phenomena or environments, fragile, unknown and often invisible to the naked eye. A marine evening with the 16mm performance Intertidal by filmmaker Alex MacKenzie (Vancouver, Canada) and the projection in 16mm of the film Hyas & Stenorinques by Jean Painlevé.