Art Basel will present a premier program of film and video work, selected for the second year by the Cairo-based film curator and lecturer Maxa Zoller. Drawn from the show’s participating galleries, highlights of this year’s program include an exclusive preview of Pierre Bismuth’s film ‘Where is Rocky ll?’ and ‘History’s Future’, the first feature-length fiction film by Fiona Tan. The Film program will also feature 'Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania' by Jonas Mekas, one of the pioneers of post-war experimental filmmaking, and ‘Burden’, a documentary by Timothy Marrinan and Richard Dewey about Chris Burden’s life and work, selected by Marian Masone. Following last year’s collaboration with Art Basel, the Festival del film Locarno will present the Swiss premiere of ‘Continuity’, the most recent feature-length film by Omer Fast. The Film program will also include works by Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Yuri Ancarani, Manon de Boer, Tim Davis, Edith Dekyndt, Simon Fujiwara, Beatrice Gibson, Sven Johne, Park Chan-kyong, Martha Rosler, Anri Sala, Cally Spooner and Superflex.
Art Basel’s Film program will open with an exclusive preview of French artist Pierre Bismuth’s ‘Where is Rocky ll?’ (2016). The story behind the film lies in the artist’s search for an artificial rock left by Ed Ruscha in the Mojave Desert in the late 1970s, and explores how we project our fantasies. ‘Where is Rocky ll?’ is at once a documentary, a crime thriller and a work of art – and, ultimately, something else entirely. Bismuth’s film will be shown at 10.30pm on Monday, June 13, 2016.
‘History’s Future’ (2016) is Fiona Tan’s first feature-length fiction film, and introduces ‘MP’, a character who has been so severely beaten after a mugging that he has lost all his memories and has to rebuild his life. Tan’s film touches on several sensitive subjects of our time: violence, shock, loss of identity, being everything and everywhere at once, and yet nothing and nowhere. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Fiona Tan and Maxa Zoller. Tan’s film will be shown at 8.30pm on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.
Jonas Mekas’ 'Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania' (1971/1972) is the documentation of the artist's first visit back to his homeland since his attempt to flee the Nazis aged 22, and his emigration to New York in the 1940s. A pioneer of avant-garde cinema, Mekas will be present at the Art Basel screening, which will be followed by a Q&A with Maxa Zoller. Mekas’ film will be shown at 8pm on Thursday, June 16, 2016.
Timothy Marrinan and Richard Dewey’s documentary film ‘Burden’ (2016) is a revealing portrait of Chris Burden, which draws upon unprecedented access to the artist’s archive, and features candid footage filmed in the final years of his life. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Timothy Marrinan, Richard Dewey and Marian Masone. Marrinan and Dewey’s film will be shown at 8pm on Saturday, June 18, 2016.
For its collaboration with Art Basel, the Festival del film Locarno will present the Swiss premier of Omer Fast’s ‘Continuity’ (2016). With the short version of the film having premiered at documenta 13, the long version follows a straightforward narrative of an emotional homecoming, which turns uncanny, as the two main protagonists repeatedly invite different young men into their home for a mysterious ritual. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Fast and Sergio Fant, programmer of the Festival del film Locarno. Omer Fast’s film will be screened at 8.30pm on Friday, June 17, 2016.
The first Short Film program on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 takes inspiration from Karl Valentin’s phrase ‘Kunst ist schön, macht aber viel Arbeit’ ('Art is beautiful, but it takes a lot of work'), and will feature a selection of short films by contemporary artists inspired by the relationship between work and value, especially that of manual versus virtual work. Screening on the same day, the second Short Film program ‘Sound Spaces of Trauma’ will look at North Korea and Sarajevo as places of extreme trauma that are then sublimated by means of classical musical compositions. With their films, the three artists
Park Chan-kyong, Anri Sala and Manon de Boer explore a new approach in coming to terms with the past. The Short Film program on Thursday, June 16, 2016 focuses on one of today’s most pressing issues: mass migration. However, instead of focusing on tragedy, these films use metaphors to approach the subject.
Screened at Stadtkino Basel, the Film program will run from Monday, June 13 to Saturday, June 18, 2016.
DETAILED FILM PROGRAM
Monday, June 13 10pm | Introduction by Pierre Bismuth of 'Where is Rocky II?' 10.30pm | Screening | Pierre Bismuth: 'Where is Rocky II?' (2016)
Running time 93'; team (gallery, inc.), Jan Mot, Christine König
This year’s Film program opens with an exclusive preview of ‘Where is Rocky II?’, the first feature-length fiction film by French artist Pierre Bismuth. The story’s starting point is the search for a mysterious object: an artificial rock that artist Ed Ruscha hid in the vast California desert in the 1970s. ‘Where is Rocky II?’ is at once a documentary, a crime thriller and a work of art – and ultimately something else entirely. Pierre Bismuth leads the audience on a wild goose chase through reality and fiction, until it is impossible to tell them apart.
Tuesday, June 14
8pm | Short Film program | ‘Arbeit ist schön, macht aber viel Kunst’
Running time 68'; curated by Maxa Zoller
Karl Valentin’s famous phrase ‘Kunst ist schön, macht aber viel Arbeit’ (‘Art is beautiful, but it takes a lot of work’) is the inspiration for this program of short films by contemporary artists on the relationship between work and value. Above all, these films focus on the value of manual and virtual work, such as work with computers, celebrity culture or the production of money on the stock market.
Simon Fujiwara, Hello, 2015, 10', Andrea Rosen Gallery, Dvir Gallery, joségarcía ,mx Cally Spooner, Off Camera Dialogue, 2014, 6', gb agency
Beatrice Gibson, Crippled Symmetries, 2015, 26', Laura Bartlett Gallery Yuri Ancarani, San Siro, 2014, 26', Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi
Tim Davis, Just in Time, 2015, 3'50'', Van Doren Waxter
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Beatrice Gibson, Simon Fujiwara and Maxa Zoller.
10pm | Short Film program | ‘Sound Spaces of Trauma’
Running time 66'; curated by Maxa Zoller
North Korea and Sarajevo: in this program, sites of historical trauma are revisited and sublimated by means of classical musical compositions. These moving films by the three artists mark a new approach in coming to terms with the past.
Park Chan-kyong, Flying, 2005, 13', Kukje Gallery / Tina Kim Gallery
Anri Sala, 1395 Days without Red, 2011, 43'46'', kurimanzutto, Hauser & Wirth, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Esther Schipper / Johnen Galerie
Manon de Boer, On a Warm Day in July, 2015, 9'50'', Jan Mot
Wednesday, June 15
8.30pm | Screening | Fiona Tan: ‘History's Future’ (2016)
Running time 95', Frith Street Gallery, Mongrel Media
‘History’s Future’ is the first feature-length fiction film by Netherlands-based Indonesian artist Fiona Tan. The film’s protagonist, ‘MP’ (Missing Person), is a middle-aged man who has been beaten so badly that he loses his memory and must piece his life together anew. Through poetic images of European cities and impressive actors, Fiona Tan tells a moving story and puts her finger on the sore spots of our time: violence, amnesia, shock, loss of identity; being everything and everywhere at once, and yet nothing and nowhere.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Fiona Tan and Maxa Zoller.
Thursday, June 16
8pm | Jonas Mekas: ‘Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania’ (1971/1972)
Running time 82'; James Fuentes
Jonas Mekas is one of the pioneers of post-war experimental filmmaking, co-founder of New York’s Anthology Film Archives and, at 93 years of age, still a tireless filmmaker in his own right. This film reflects his tumultuous biography; he fled from Lithuania at age 22, was captured by the Nazis, after the war attended the University of Mainz and in the late 1940s emigrated to New York. In ‘Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania’ he documents his first trip back to his native land.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Jonas Mekas and Maxa Zoller.
10.30pm | Short Film program | 'Migrating Birds'
Running time 38'; curated by Maxa Zoller
This program tackles one of today’s most pressing issues: mass migration. However, instead of focusing on tragedy, these films use indirect, metaphoric language to raise the question of what it means to risk ‘crossing the water’.
Martha Rosler, Because This Is Britain..., 2012, 3',
Galerie Nagel Draxler Sven Johne, A Sense of Warmth, 2015, 15'35,
Galerie Nagel Draxler Edith Dekyndt, Material M, 2007, 1'35'',
Galerie Greta Meert
Superflex, KWASSA KWASSA', 2015, 18'15'', Nils Staerk
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, The lncidental lnsurgents, Part 2: Unforgiving Years, 2014, 6'30'', Carroll / Fletcher
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Bjørnstjerne Christiansen and Maxa Zoller.
Friday, June 17
8.30pm | Special screening | Omer Fast: 'Continuity' (2016)
Running time 85'; selected by Sergio Fant, programmer Festival del film Locarno, gb agency, Arratia Beer, Dvir Gallery, James Cohan Gallery, Filmgalerie 451
Following last year’s collaboration with Art Basel, this year the Festival del film Locarno presents the Swiss premiere of ‘Continuity’, the most recent feature-length film by Omer Fast. A short version of the film premiered at documenta 13 and has since won several awards. The long version is a remake, repetition and continuation of the short version.
‘Continuity’ begins as a straightforward story of an emotional homecoming and turns uncanny as the two protagonists – a middle-aged couple living in a small town in Germany – repeatedly invite different young men into their home to perform a mysterious ritual.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Omer Fast and Sergio Fant, programmer Festival del film Locarno.
Saturday, June 18
8pm | Special Screening | Timothy Marrinan, Richard Dewey: 'Burden' (2016)
Running time 90'; selected by Marian Masone European premiere
From his controversial performances of the early 1970s to his most recent sculptures and installations, Chris Burden's work has consistently raised questions about the limits and nature of art. Using unprecedented access to Burden's archive as well as candid footage of the artist in the final years of his life, this documentary is a revealing portrait of the man behind some of the most thought provoking and influential artworks of the past 50 years.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Timothy Marrinan, Richard Dewey and Marian Masone.
Admission
Film tickets are CHF 17.
Holders of Art Basel VIP cards, Art Basel tickets and exhibitor passes can pick up a free ticket at the Stadtkino Basel box office. The Stadtkino Basel box office opens 30 minutes prior to the screenings. As seating is limited, please email film@artbasel.com for advance ticket reservation or visit the Film information desk at Art Basel, entrance area of Hall 2.
Address
Stadtkino Basel
Klostergasse 5 4051 Basel
Tram number 1 (direction SBB) or 2 (direction Binningen) from Messeplatz to Bankverein. From Bankverein it is a 3-minute walk to the Stadtkino.
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