Artists’ Film International: Eduardo Basualdo, Tanya Busse & Emilija Ŝkarnulytė, Brigid McCaffrey and Pallavi Paul

14 July – 27 September 2015
Zilkha Auditorium, Free Entry

The Whitechapel Gallery presents four new works for Artists’ Film International, a seasonal programme of film, video and animation chosen by partner cultural organisations from around the world.

A recent film commission by Argentinian artist Eduardo Basualdo (selected by Fundación PROA in Buenos Aires, Argentina) titled Eyelids (2014), documents an art installation in Austria of two semi-transparent curtains on the interior and exterior of a window. Moving at different moments, the curtains only offer a glimpse of what lies beyond when they lift at the same time. The artist was interested in how ‘delicate glass is enough for two completely different worlds to exist only millimetres away’.

Part of an ongoing collaboration between Canadian and Norwegian artists Tanya Busse and Emilija Ŝkarnulytė (selected by Tromsø Kunstforening in Tromsø, Norway), the film Hollow Earth (2013) examines the dramatic changes to the arctic landscape due to the extraction of natural resources. The work combines archive footage, research material and landscape shots of active drilling sites in Norway and Sweden, presenting them conversely as tourist destinations associated with untamed wilderness and highly contested geopolitical territories at the forefront of debates on climate change.

Selected by Ballroom Marfa in Texas, American filmmaker Brigid McCaffrey’s Paradise Springs (2013) follows geologist Ren Lallatin’s unique and intimate relationship to the Mojave Desert in the southwest states of the USA. For years she has lived in and travelled through the desert, studying its geological formations. The film shows Lallatin’s interactions with the natural world while she discusses her life, research and ongoing stand against land regulation and privatisation.

Long Hair, Short Ideas (2014) is the third in a series of essay films by Indian filmmaker Pallavi Paul (selected by Project 88 in Mumbai, India) and looks at the role of the ‘revolutionary wife’. Exploring the life of Indian revolutionary poet Vidrohi’s wife, the film looks at the relationship between her intimate domestic life after her husband left her and her involvement with radical political movements in 1970s India.

Notes to Editors

• Artists’ Film International is a collaborative project established by the Whitechapel Gallery displaying film, video and animation from around the world. In collaboration with 14 global partner organisations, the programme brings together works that are presented over the course of a year in each venue.
• Artists’ Film International partner organisations are: The Cultural Centre of Belgrade, Belgrade; Video-Forum (n.b.k), Berlin; GAMeC, Bergamo; Fundacion PRÓA, Buenos Aires; Hanoi/DOCLAB, Hanoi; Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong; Istanbul Modern, Istanbul; Centre for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan (CCAA), Kabul; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, Texas; National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow; Project 88, Mumbai; Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø, Norway; Cinematheque de Tanger, Tangier and Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw.
• Artists’ Film International is curated for the Whitechapel Gallery by Omar Kholeif, Curator, Whitechapel Gallery with Candy Stobbs, Assistant Curator, Whitechapel Gallery.

Visitor Information

Opening times:
Tuesday – Sunday, 11am – 6pm, Thursdays, 11am – 9pm. Admission free. Whitechapel Gallery, 7 7 – 82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX. Nearest London Underground Station: Aldgate East, Liverpool Street, Tower Gateway DLR. T + 44 (0) 20 7522 7888 info@whitechapelgallery.org

For further press information and images contact:

Alex O’Neill
Senior Press and Communications Officer, Whitechapel Gallery
T +44 (0)20 7539 3360 E alexoneill@whitechapelgallery.org