In occasion of the symposium The Place of Documentary - Traversing Disciplines by LUCA School of Arts and DocNomads, our Black Box hosts this film by Fiona Tan.
WE - FR 13:00 - 17:00
SA 14:00 - 20:00
Depot, so named to reflect Tan’s ongoing interest in public and private collections of objects, is a film installation incorporating footage filmed in the depots of natural history museums in Leiden and Berlin. The amassing of specimens in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is the basis for most natural history museums. However, ‘natural history’ remains a curious term, an oxymoron. This term encapsulates the troubled complexities of mankind’s relationship to the natural world. Ironically, when it comes to collecting for these institutions, one must first kill and render lifeless that which one wishes to preserve. This recent commission builds upon several of Tan’s recent works that expose collections and archives, calling into question the ways in which they are used to represent and interpret history and mankind’s place in the world.
22’40’’
in English with French subtitles
in loop
BIO
Fiona Tan is a visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Amsterdam. She is best known for her skillfully crafted video and film installations, in which explorations of memory, time, history and the role of visual images are key. Her installations and photographic works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in international venues. She has written and directed to date two feature-length films. Her work has been shown at various international group shows including in the São Paulo Biennial (2010), Venice Architecture Biennale (2010), Documenta IX (2002), Istanbul Biennale (2001). Her work is represented in numerous international public and private collections including the Tate Modern, London, the Guggenheim Museum New York, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Neue National Galerie, Berlin and the MCA, Chicago.
The symposium takes place in Leuven from 22 to 24 March, in collaboration with Docville and the participation of LUCA PhD’s, DocNomads students and faculty, and Beursschouwburg.
find out more https://www.luca-arts.be/nl/the-place-documentary-traversing-disciplines
Voice-over spoken by Andrew Bennett. The work was commissioned by the BALTIC, Gateshead
