PureScreen #14 ‘Making Love to My Ego’

This curated programme of new international work compliments the exhibition, Making Love To My Ego, curated by Another Product at Castlefield Gallery.

The ego represents fertile ground for artistic exploration, and as such, the PureScreen #14 programme is comprised of 9 experimental pieces that explore ideas of ego and identity, utilising an array of cinematic conventions in the process.

Obvious characteristics of the ego take second place to obscure disguises, alter-ego characters and deliberate attempts to mislead the viewer. Some of the artists adopt fictional personae, others explore contemporary cultural and social constructs around notions of identity and personality; how we view ourselves and others, and how we read and react to a variety of scenarios, either real or constructed.

Playing with such notions of falsity and ‘the real’ the selected works reject the popular conceit that the self-portrait functions to represent the artists true ‘self’ and instead we witness the artists using ‘I’ as a medium in order to comment on aspects of self, identity and society.

Bureau Gallery,
Ground Floor, Islington Mill, James Street, Salford. M3 5HW. Bus stop on nearby Chapel Street. Buses from Piccadilly: X34, 36, 37, 12, 26.

PROGRAMME NOTES:

1. Cross Examination Josh Weinstein / 2005 / New York, USA / 5’ 40”
Weinstein approaches passers-by in public spaces and invites them to guess the answers to factual questions about himself.

2. The Tantrum Project Sepideh Sai & Maya Seuss / 2005 / Canada / 5’ 05”
Two characters throw tantrums in private and public spaces.

3. Cloning Factory 2 Alina & Jeff Bliumis / 2006 / New York, USA / 8’ 00”
Two scientists attempt to clone a perfect woman, but despite a rigorous laboratory method all they end up with are a series of giant genderless pink bunnies.

4. Talent Show Auditions Zoe Tissandier / 2005 / Brighton, UK / 9’ 28”
A composite film structure, which explores the ‘edges’ of amateur performances, and attempts to document the change that occurs between off-stage / private (authentic) and on-stage / public performance (over acting).

– interval –

5. My Life at 40 Laurie Hill / 2005 / London, UK / 7’ 40”
‘A special collaboration between the director, aged 12 years, and his present 34 year old self, both looking forward to a glorious future as a 40 year old conservation hero and Lamborghini owner. Made with six years to go!’

6. Ghost Story Erica Scourti / 2006 / London, UK / 3’ 50”
A montage series of still images showing the book covers of masses of autobiographies. The titles are strung cleverly together to produce a narrative of self -explanation.

7. The Bun in the Oven Lilli Hartmann / 2005 / Germany / 10’ 00”
A self-contained genre film produced with one actor in one room of a flat. This ‘Western’ love triangle story ends in tragedy.

8. Promo Jacopo Miliani / 2005 / London, UK / 1’ 18”
A shrouded figure wears a cloth over his face; the cloth is printed with the keys of a piano. As the person sits in camera shot, they ‘play’ the keys covering their face.

9. Humming Lisa Keiko Kirton / 2005 / Aberdeen, UK / 5’ 30”
A woman returns home after a night out, and we see her removing her adornments, slowly stripping away the facets of conventional beauty and becoming adopting her true state, whilst humming a tune.

PureScreen is Castlefield Gallery’s screening event for artist’s film and video. Curated from open submissions, the programme provides a platform for outstanding recent work and aims to support new and emerging practitioners.

For further info or to join the mailing list please contact: Sophia Crilly,
e: purescreen@castlefieldgallery.co.uk

Or visit:
www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk/Purescreen.asp
, for programme details and to download PureScreen: Film & Video Artists Information Pack.

PureScreen is supported by Arts Council England.