All day screening events | Saturday January 14th & Saturday January 21st.
Plug In ICA is excited to announce we will be hosting two all day screening events, Saturday January 14th & Saturday January 21st.
Saturday January 14th we will be screening O fim do sem fim by Cao Guimarães, with screenings commencing at the following times; 12:15pm, 1:45pm, 3:15pm
In this documentary, the directors set out on a journey through remote towns and villages in Brazil in search of crafts and professions that are near extinction. Filmed in the late 1990s and released in 2001, the work shows the imminent turn of the century, and the new millennium appears in the ominous imaginary of many outspoken characters whose “street philosophies” reflect upon a rapidly changing era. Twenty years later, the COVID-19 pandemic, a looming ecological catastrophe, and overall political and economic instability and uncertainty present a global crisis unlike any experienced before in modern times. This film helps us rethink what technological progress has brought to our lives, and how radically it has changed the social, creative and behavioral fabric of our societies. Yet, far from a nostalgic take on romantically framed, disappearing ways of life, this film, shot in ten different Brazilian states, portrays the unique creativity, joy, and inventive power found among people with little formal education and often living in dire conditions at the margins of urban centers. Three of the most eccentric characters, self-named “masters,” remind us of medieval masterminds and innovators, or philosophers and sages that could have been roaming the streets of Athens 2,000 years ago. O fim do sem fim is as inspiring and humorous as it is political and serious. But it is also an experimental journey exploring new ways of telling stories about real life. The film is known across Brazil for its uniquely intuitive and aesthetic approach to documentary filmmaking, interweaving spontaneous narrative with carefully shot landscapes and paying careful attention to human gesture and photographic detail.
Saturday January 21st beginning at 12:15pm we will be screening Leviathan, by Shezad Dawood. Showings will commence at the following times; 12:15pm, 2pm, 3:45pm
Leviathan is a proposal to envision a future that is very much like our present, where the boundaries of the social, political, and scientific are genuinely challenged. Historically, Leviathan is the primordial sea serpent depicted in Jewish mythology, brought to collective consciousness by Thomas Hobbes’ treatise on human nature. In Dawood’s expansion of the mythology with socio-philosophical critique, Leviathan takes the form of meditations on time, space, human nature, ecology, and the source and unfolding of life through an episodic reveal of connecting threads and contradicting realities. Leviathan can also be associated with its roots in the Hebrew word lavah, meaning to couple, to connect and join, as the project interweaves seemingly disjointed practices and bodies of knowledge, drawing outstanding parallels between species, communities, and cultures. Based on extensive and thorough research, Leviathan is the outcome of ongoing dialogues with a wide range of marine biologists, oceanographers, political scientists, neurologists, and trauma specialists. This approach is typical for Dawood’s practice, which often involves collaboration, working with groups and individuals across different territories to physically and conceptually map far-reaching lines of inquiry.
Cao Guimarães works on the crossing between the cinema and the visual arts. With intense production since the late 80s, the artist has been collected by prestigious names such as Tate Modern (United Kingdom), MoMA and the Guggenheim Museum (USA), FondationCartier (France), Colección Jumex (Mexico), Inhotim (Brazil), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Spain) and others.
Veronica Cordeiro is a Brazilian artist, curator and writer based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Constantly exploring the possibilities of art as an agent and platform of growth and transformation, in the last twenty years Veronica has organised countless projects in several countries where art, exhibition, personal experience, conversations, inter-disciplinary debates, educational platforms and institutional commissions have been pushed from their conventional settings in order to open up new forms of knowledge and experience. She began her curatorial training at the 24th Bienal de São Paulo (Antropofagia, 1998) and after completing an MA in Visual Anthropology in London in 2008 and starting a PhD as an ethnographic artist and researcher, she moved to Uruguay in 2009 where she the ongoing project Curating in Context, the monthly live art critique sessions called Plato Crítico, courses in curatorial practice and the creative process, experimental art residencies and shows, etc. In 2013 Veronica created the curatorial department of the Centro de Fotografía de Montevideo (CdF) and developed the new international photography festival MUFF (Montevideo Uruguay Festival de Fotografía). In 2018, she left CdF to concentrate on Procesual, a year-long creative processes laboratory that offers an innovative methodology to art-making, understanding the artistic process as a vital force of creation in its intrinsic relationship with life itself. In 2019, Veronica launched a textile design project that seeks to revitalize and support ancestral weaving techniques which are becoming obsolete in many Latin American regions through innovative design, adding value to local craftsmanship and empowering traditional communities.
Shezad Dawood works across film, painting and sculpture to juxtapose discrete systems of image, language, site and narrative, using the editing process as a method to explore meanings and forms between film and painting. His practice often involves collaboration, working with groups and individuals across different territories to physically and conceptually map far-reaching lines of enquiry. These networks chart different geographic locations and communities and are particularly concerned with acts of translation and re-staging.
Fatoş Üstek is director of Liverpool Biennial, jury member for Turner Prize 2020, external member of acquisitions committee for Arts Council Collection (2018-2020). She is recipient of curatorial fellowship at Tornabuoni Art, London 2018, curator of Do Ho Suh’s largest commission in the UK (2018-2020), co-commissioned by Art Night and Sculpture in the City. She formerly acted as director and chief curator of DRAF (David Roberts Art Foundation), curator of miart Talks 2018, Milano; Art Night 2017, East London; and fig-2, 50 projects in 50 weeks, 2015, ICA Studio, London. Üstek is contributing editor to Extra Extra, chief-juror for the Celeste Prize 2017. She is a founding member of Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA); Art Nights Trustee, member of AICA UK, and ICI Alumni. She curates, lectures and publishes internationally, recently at Sotheby’s, Goldmisths College, RCA and in art magazines such as Mousse, L’Officiel and Camera Austria.
Acknowledgements
We are on Treaty 1 Territory. Plug In ICA is located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. Our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.
Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support