Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Double billing of Declan Clarke’s experimental essay films. Somewhere between W. G. Sebald and Adam Curtis, Declan strings together enticing mental connections between the seemingly disparate histories of the Cassini Saturn probe, computer chess, the rise of Alzheimer’s, Irish wartime radio and Nazi Germany."
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A event held at The Cube on Sunday 11th February. The event starts at 13:00.
Declan Clarke and The Museum of a Proud History is a succinct attempt to look into one of the most intriguing challenges that Clarke proposes to us — the emotional and intellectual leaps that are revealed when we order things our own way. If History has been deconstructed and complexified and the role of hegemonic systems of thought has been called into question, the role of space — the exercise of the diagram — has been brought to confront that of time — the form of the line. In Clarke’s films, collections of objects, words, ideas and exhibitions, the diagrammatic possibility of ordering things has allowed mapping possible (alternative) accounts of human existence on Earth. Looking at the circulation and transmission of things, one finds the transitions and transformations that our lives went through.
Economic, political, ideological, poetic, affective and material circulation of things — narrative becomes both a taxonomy and a paradox, where its own limits are revealed, together with our own existential precarity. A radically minimalistic form opens up a maximal poetic potential — thought and feeling together in motion. — Cíntia Gil
Saturn and Beyond, Ireland, 2021, 60 minutes
Traces the discovery of the connection between lightening and electricity, and how this understanding developed into firstly electrical communication, and expanded to transcontinental communication and ultimately broadcasting. The film considers how the development of telecommunications and air travel led ultimately to the exploration of the solar system, and humankind’s desire to send signals to the further regions of the known universe. Most specifically it looks at our relationship with the planet Saturn, the furthest planet in the solar system visible to the human eye.
What Are the Wild Waves Saying?, Germany 2022, 72 minutes
A feature length experimental documentary film that looks at the politicisation of communication, especially during times of war and ideological conflict. The reporting and analysis of wartime events is an important part of any military or political approach, and consequently, the control of the discourse around conflict can be as significant as the military combat itself. The era of electronic communication has made this an ever expanding and more influential phenomenon. In times of war and conflict, controlled messaging to the public is manipulated to suit the intentions and outlook of each combative faction. Notions of ‘truth’ and a ‘free press’ become selectively interpreted, so that whoever is listening remains assured that they are being presented with a fully unbiased picture.
Programmed by Artistic Differences with curatorial support from Constança Pinelo.
ARTISTIC DIFFERENCES, is organized by UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art’s Christopher Allen, and Jenny Miller with Independent Programmer Cíntia Gil. It’s a monthly sequence of interlocking events— an online cineclub, along with physical screenings and public dialogues— that brings a diverse, international audience on a journey to many places and new contexts, welcoming many different films, voices, ideas and visions. Along the way, it makes room for brave questions and candid responses to challenging documentary art, and invites the voices of the audience to a more public stage after taking time to think together.
This drifting cinema club is an experiment in building an inclusive international community in partnership with some of the most exciting documentary events and spaces around the world. We screen singular films that open questions about the possibility of collective transformation, about forms and practices of togetherness, and speak to filmmakers and authors that bring those notions into the core of their own artistic interrogations. Join us the first Saturday of each month.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
Economic, political, ideological, poetic, affective and material circulation of things — narrative becomes both a taxonomy and a paradox, where its own limits are revealed, together with our own existential precarity. A radically minimalistic form opens up a maximal poetic potential — thought and feeling together in motion. — Cíntia Gil
Saturn and Beyond, Ireland, 2021, 60 minutes
Traces the discovery of the connection between lightening and electricity, and how this understanding developed into firstly electrical communication, and expanded to transcontinental communication and ultimately broadcasting. The film considers how the development of telecommunications and air travel led ultimately to the exploration of the solar system, and humankind’s desire to send signals to the further regions of the known universe. Most specifically it looks at our relationship with the planet Saturn, the furthest planet in the solar system visible to the human eye.
What Are the Wild Waves Saying?, Germany 2022, 72 minutes
A feature length experimental documentary film that looks at the politicisation of communication, especially during times of war and ideological conflict. The reporting and analysis of wartime events is an important part of any military or political approach, and consequently, the control of the discourse around conflict can be as significant as the military combat itself. The era of electronic communication has made this an ever expanding and more influential phenomenon. In times of war and conflict, controlled messaging to the public is manipulated to suit the intentions and outlook of each combative faction. Notions of ‘truth’ and a ‘free press’ become selectively interpreted, so that whoever is listening remains assured that they are being presented with a fully unbiased picture.
Programmed by Artistic Differences with curatorial support from Constança Pinelo.
ARTISTIC DIFFERENCES, is organized by UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art’s Christopher Allen, and Jenny Miller with Independent Programmer Cíntia Gil. It’s a monthly sequence of interlocking events— an online cineclub, along with physical screenings and public dialogues— that brings a diverse, international audience on a journey to many places and new contexts, welcoming many different films, voices, ideas and visions. Along the way, it makes room for brave questions and candid responses to challenging documentary art, and invites the voices of the audience to a more public stage after taking time to think together.
This drifting cinema club is an experiment in building an inclusive international community in partnership with some of the most exciting documentary events and spaces around the world. We screen singular films that open questions about the possibility of collective transformation, about forms and practices of togetherness, and speak to filmmakers and authors that bring those notions into the core of their own artistic interrogations. Join us the first Saturday of each month.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
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