“Special KLEX programs in Berlin & Braunschweig, Germany”
15 & 23 APRIL 2012
A special KLEX program featuring works from Asia entitled “From Remembering to Rising” was presented in Germany in April 2012 at two venues: Director’s Lounge and the Braunschweig University of Art. These programs were presented in person by KLEX festival director/curator Ms. KoK Siew Wai.
Director’s Lounge:
http://directorslounge.tumblr.com/post/20661864054/from-remembering-to-rising-internal-dialogues
HBK Filmforum @Braunschweig University of Art:
http://additor.hbk-bs.de/filmklasse/veranstaltungen/filmforum_details/info_mo12ss/info_120423.html
“FROM REMEMBERING TO RISING”
This is a special selected KLEX program that consists of video works from Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan, literally or indirectly exploring the themes of nostalgia, recollection, memory and internal dialogues. The human brain is the most fundamental agent of archiving. Like it or not, it records everything every single moment. After the recording, some materials are remained while others are discarded, and then some are twisted, created (out of the absence of a desired memory) and re-created (perhaps because it’s too painful?). Memories are stored in different forms: image, sound, smell… that eventually provokes emotions. What is “real”? What we “see”, or “experience”, or what we “remember”? Sometimes, the brain records a journey with rapidly changing images and sensations. In those split seconds, which image and sensation will remain in our consciousness and enforce new actions?
ARTISTS & WORKS
When the Time Without My Memories
4:55 min/sound/2010/Malaysia
Alison KHOR
Omokage
6:20 min/sound/2010/Japan
SATAKE Maki
PERHAPS
8:50 min/sound/2006/Malaysia
KOK Kai-Foong
PASSING II
6:30 min/sound/2009/Malaysia
AU Sow-Yee
Kolam
12:40 min/sound/2007/Malaysia
Chris Chong Chan Fui
Sky Don’t Fall
3:11 min/sound/2011/Japan
NAKAMURA Akiko
Iso
3:11 min/sound/2011/Japan
HATTORI Katsuyuki
The Endless Steps
6:30 min/sound/2007/Indonesia
Maulana M. PASHA
The First Rain (Meditation 1)
Thailand, 11:00 min/sound/2012/Japan
TAMBATA Koji
“WHEN WE MEET @ FINDARS: film, video & improvised music”
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012
KLEX presents a night with films from Belgium (Jimmy Hendrickx), live video + improvised music from France (Seba aka ‘un escargot vide?’), Brazil (Blu), together with local improvisers Yong Yandsen, Kok Siew Wai and Wong Eng Leong.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
:: FROM FRANCE: SEBA aka “UN ESCARGOT VIDE ?”::
I come from the North Eastern part of France (Vosges). After my studies at the School of Fine Arts in Mulhouse, I graduated from the Beaux-Arts in Paris with honors in 2005. My work is a multi-disciplinary one, and goes from my visual researches to my sound experimentations. When I was a child, I used drawings to communicate with other kids, it created connections with my entourage. Until now, I still had a strong feeling in my mind about my first drawing. Drawing to me, it’s more like a present, a message, a souvenir and a link between humans. I always wanted to reconcile my two media attraction, drawing and sound art into a multi-disciplinary art project. Since year 2010, I started to use real-time drawing projection to present my work by using projector, computer drawing software’s and the Wacom drawing pen tablet, which evolves with sound into multimedia performances. During live performances,I tried to create a narrative combination between sounds and drawings: as a means of leading the audience into an imaginary tales.
http://1escvcv.blogspot.com
www.1escV.eu
:: FROM BELGIUM: JIMMY HENDRICKX ::
For about 5 years Jimmy Hendrickx (1979, Belgium) teaches video editing and history of cinema at the School Of Arts in Ghent. It’s only recently he started to produce personal work again. Parallel with his research in movie history he is clearly experimenting with the knowledge and insights that came along with his theoretical studies. A frequent theme is the ambiguous bound of the audience with the silver screen. And the powerful roll of the moviemaker according to his audience. Playing with the mind of the audience and experimenting with the grammar of cinema. Cinema is one of the latest artistic media that became a public hit, and it grew rapidly. It separated itself completely from theatre and photography. But since the ending of artistic trends like Expressionism, Impressionism, Surrealism who saw cinema as a playground for experiments the form and shape of cinema staid quiet similar. Like he said: “It’s time to give up the differences between, cinema, video and theatre. Not only the movie itself should me changed but the complete production process has need for a revolution.” Exclude for al these theories and statements Jimmy is also looking for an audiovisual poetry. Far West is such an example.
:: FROM BRAZIL: BLU ::
Blu its a nomade multi-media(sound/body/video/food) artist that starts in 2007 in Florianópolis(Brazil) to dedicate himself to improvisation; in experimental music with Kalu Keppe(in the duo Koll Witz) that also get part of theater pieces soundtrack and the open artistic Collective Nós(Br/Pt/Sk/It). Original bass and percussion player, in Koll Witz this instruments was gived back, when starts to explore textures and gestures in violin, flute, handmade electronics, and everything that makes sound. Than, in 2009 move to Europe, where pass through 14 countries, spending more time in Lisbon(Portugal) and Brno(Czech Republic). Now located in Istanbul, starts to explore the east, making his first Asia Tour. As a solo traveler, his best friend is his recorder, where he collect the primal material for inspiration and composition on field recordings. In live performance, working the edges of risk, always changing his set, and playing with different musicians from different approaches.
http://www.graukllktv.eu/grau/rezidence/
http://soundcloud.com/blusound
http://soundcloud.com/nomade-label
“KLEX in BEFF6”
KLEX is invited by the 6th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival to present a special program featuring KLEX works selected from Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong on
5 February 2012 at the Bangkok Art & Culture Center.
Please check it out if you’re in town!
For more information: http://beffbeff.com/beff-programmes/beff6-presents
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FROM REMEMBERING TO RISING
This is a special selected KLEX program that consists of works from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan of various content, styles and approaches.
The human brain is the most fundamental agent of archiving. Like it or not, it records everything every single moment. After the recording, some materials are remained while others are discarded. Memories are then stored in different forms: image, sound, smell… that eventually provokes emotions. PASSING II presents a journey of rapidly changing images of the city as if the brain is in the very process of “recording”. In those split seconds, which image will stay in the consciousness? Sharing a similar visual aesthetic is When the Time Without My Memories, meditating on the absence of memory. PERHAPS is the only narrative-based (although pretty abstract) work in the program, intertwining the story-world and our physical world. Now which one is “real”? What we “see”, or what we “think”? What about the experiences that are too painful to be remembered? Kolam is a quiet memorial of the unforgettable 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia, displaying such courage from the victims. Di Bawah Bintang Mengerdip uses sound – music and poetry, to pay tribute to the unfortunate events in life. The Butterfly is an excellent 30 seconds meditation on the impermanence of life!
The three Japanese works with the length of 3 minutes 11 seconds, are selected from the KLEX 2011 Guest Program: “3.11: What Is To Be Remembered?”, co-curated by Hiroaki Sato and Katsuyuki Hattori, as Tokyo’s artists’ responses to the March 11 major earthquake in 2011. Sky Don’t Fall shows breathtaking images of Tokyo’s sky. Nakamura uses humour and rhythmic editing to inject reality into melancholy sentiments as she narrates “I’m gonna make sure that doves fly, Cause kids fly too…Then I see the moon sets over the bank sign.” Making of Tokyo uses found footage and graphics to investigate a stereotypical Tokyo as outsiders’ impression, with a touch of humour. Iso juxtaposes news footage with personal footage to remember the event and raises critical questions. Adapting a poetic aesthetic, Star ponders over social and political violence as it scratches over the images and sounds as if history is being removed forcefully. ความมืดสีขาว Whiteness In Darkness, with an intense editing style, playing with the “broken rhythms” of video, sound and fragments of text, invites the viewers to engage actively on a philosophical ride. When intense sensations violently overflowing our senses, what will remain in our memories? Morning is a quiet observer who merely “watches”, so does Flow. When one truly observes, compassion will rise.
ARTISTS & WORKS:
When the Time Without My Memories (2010, Malaysia, 4:55 mins)
Alison KHOR
For my parents. A time that never occurs in my memory but were their most precious moments in life.
Kolam (2007, Malaysia, 12:40 mins)
Chris CHONG Chan Fui
Kolam is a short documentary about a village pool and the post-trauma kids swimming lessons.
The Butterfly(2004, Malaysia, 0:35 secs)
CHAN Seauhuvi
…. And this is living.
PERHAPS (2006, Malaysia, 8:50 mins)
KOK Kai Foong
Women in Love.
PASSING II (2009, Malaysia, 6:30 mins)
AU Sow Yee
Moving in city, as if chasing the speed of light but was eventually pulled back onto the earth.
Di Bawah Bintang Mengerdip (Under the Twinkling Star)(2010, Malaysia, 3:30 mins)
Kamal Sabran
Di Bawah Bintang Mengerdip is a collaboration project between experimental musician, Space Gambus Experiment with A. Samad Said, a national poet Laurette. The inspiration for this poem was derived from unfortunate living stories that he’d heard from some dancer friends. He was deeply touched by their stories and wrote this poem in 1960.
Sky Don’t Fall (2011, Japan, 3:11 mins)
Akiko Nakamura
I’m watching the sky
I wanna make sure the sky don’t fall
I’m gonna make sure that doves fly
Cause kids fly too
I’ll always make sure the sky don’t fall
Then I see the moon sets over the bank sign
iso (2011, Japan, 3:11 mins)
Katsuyuki Hattori
50 means “many” in Japanese language and sometimes pronounced “iso”. The earth has shaken, city system has frozen, a safety myth has fallen, and economic Godzilla appeared by the earthquake. I have to face the monster, but in what way?
Making of Tokyo (2011, Japan, 3:11 mins)
Yousuke Sano
How to make Tokyo in 3 minutes 11 seconds?
STAR (alternative version) (2011, Hong Kong, 8:00 mins)
Choi Sai Ho
Star is like a collage of news, banners and sound of demonstration of the “protecting the historic sites – Star Ferry Pier and Queen’s pier” event. The rhythm is so intense and the work shows the violence of the news event. (Phoebe Man Ching Ying, curator/scholar)
Morning (2010, Malaysia, 3:50 mins)
KOK Siew Wai
In the morning, very loud dogs’ barking woke me up. I walked up to the window and saw a very unlikely scene, not the usual morning breezes and birds chirping. I quickly took out a camera and pressed “record”. Reality is blunt, straightforward, and intense. All is part of nature.
ความมืดสีขาว Whiteness In Darkness (2012, Japan/Thailand, 8:00 mins)
Koji Tambata
ความมืดสีขาวis a Zen Buddhism phrase meaning “knowledge that cannot stop suffering and greed”. Blocking the eyes and the heart to see and understand by it one cannot reach enlightenment. Whiteness In Darkness is an audio-visual collaboration with Malaysian improvised saxophonist Yong Yandsen, who has the intensity and lyricism like the historical Kaoru Abe.
Flow (2011, Malaysia, 3:00 mins)
Chew Win Chen
Humans leave traces in nature throughout their life. Amid of pursuing their own good, the surroundings are often neglected and left to be swept away by the waves of modernization. The footage and audio recorded at Kampung Sungai Batu, Kedah, Malaysia.
(Total Run Time: 70+ minutes)
“KLEX 2012 Artist in Residency: Jason Bernagozzi and Debora Bernagozzi”
This 2-week residency program (1-15 January 2012) is co-hosted by KLEX and the Aesthetic Media SIG at Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University.
ABOUT JASON & DEBORA BERNAGOZZI
Jason Bernagozzi is a video, sound, and new media artist experimenting with the significant features of time-based media as an evolving world language, addressing concepts concerning the liminal states of language, memory and perceptual experience. Jason received his Master of Fine Arts in Electronic Integrated Art from Alfred University in 2010. His work has been featured nationally and internationally at venues such as the European Media Arts Festival in Osnabruk, Germany and the LOOP Video Art Festival in Barcelona, Spain. Jason is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Digital Media and Animation at Alfred State College in Alfred, NY.
Debora Bernagozzi is a video artist and photographer. Her ongoing body of video work consists of gestural, abstracted videos that are more resonance than representation, created through a hybrid analog/digital method utilizing real-time video and audio processing techniques. Her photography has a documentary focus. Bernagozzi received her BFA in Video from the Atlanta College of Art in 1999 and her MFA in Electronic Integrated Art from Alfred University in 2002. Her work has been exhibited in the US and internationally. Debora is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY.
Jason and Debora are married and currently reside in Rochester, NY
Jason Bernagozzi: www.seeinginvideo.com
Debora Bernagozzi: www.deborabernagozzi.com
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TUESDAY, 3 JAN, 11AM-1PM @ E-THEATER
Visiting artists Jason and Debora Bernagozzi will be giving an artist talk and presenting excerpts of experimental video works.
THURSDAY, 5 JAN, 10AM-1PM (for selected students only)
Jason Bernagozzi will be presenting a workshop about Max/MSP/Jitter, a set of computer tools that allow the user to create unique, sometimes interactive, audio and video. Bernagozzi will provide an overview of a range of things that can be done with Max/MSP/Jitter by showing examples of his own work and will give a basic tour of the interface. Bernagozzi is a video, sound, and new media artist experimenting with the significant features of time-based media as an evolving world language, addressing concepts concerning the liminal states of language, memory and perceptual experience.
WEDNESDAY, 11AM, 3PM OPENING; EXHIBITION: 11-13 JAN @ M.A.L.L.
Illusions of Permanence is a series of digital documentary photographs by Debora Bernagozzi taken over the last 7 years at the gravesites of strangers. These memorials are not elaborate shows of wealth, but small and intimate tributes. Bernagozzi is fascinated by the rituals imposed upon death, with people trying to make permanent things that were never meant to be. Bodies are embalmed and entombed, then stone markers and silk flowers are left as “lasting” means of memorialization. Inevitably, the stone is eroded, the silk is dirtied and begins to decay. Memorials can be very personal, telling stories about the ones who are gone and those that are left behind. The items left at grave sites serve as both as markers to the outside world that the deceased person was cared for and as surrogates able to stay behind with while those left behind go on with their lives. However, images taken in cemeteries need not be dreary and depressing. Debora Bernagozzi’s series of 12 large photographs are vibrantly colorful, with touches of both kitsch and of poignancy.
FFRIDAY, 13 JAN, 8-10PM @ FINDARS SPACE
ADD: 25-2,Jalan Metro Wangsa, Desa Setapak, 53300 Kuala Lumpur.
http://findars.blogspot.com
Performers & Artists: Jason & Debora Bernagozzi, Koji Tambata, Kok Siew Wai, Yong Yandsen & Wong Eng Leong.
Signals is a collaborative performance with video by Debora Bernagozzi and sound by Jason Bernagozzi. The video, which uses no source footage, was created during Debora’s final residency at the Experimental Television Center by using analog video feedback in combination with the Paik-Abe Raster Scanner (better known as the wobulator). During the performance, an additional layer of live digital video feedback is being combined with the recorded through a Jitter process. The audio is a combination of live and recorded processed sound.