Villa Aurora Events Archive
September 2017
Sandeep Mukherjee
68project (Fasanenstraße 68, 10719 Berlin)
Information
Sandeep Mukherjee, who lives and works in Los Angeles, not only fills entire exhibition rooms with his installations, but also makes these rooms physically experienceable. His work, which often consists of individual modules, reacts to the situation of the room, plays with light and shadow, and opens up new perspectives depending on the point of view. Sandeep Mukherjee is Berlin Fellow of Villa Aurora in 2017.
Partner
A cooperation with
Silent Salon
Villa Aurora (520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272)
Information
5th Annual SILENT SALON Featuring the Villa Aurora Pipe Organ
Saturday, September 9 @ 6:40 p.m.
SURPRISE FILM!! THE WHITE SHADOW
Regie: Graham Cutts, 1923, 45 min, starring Betty Compson, Clive Brook and Henry Victor, UK, digital
This is Alfred Hitchcock’s first film effort in the role of assistant director. The stunning film was lost, rediscovered in New Zealand and beautifully restored a few years ago. It re-premiered at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a new score by Michael Mortilla, curator of this year’s series and accompanist on the organ.
The plot concerns twin sisters, one modest and socially conservative, and the other a free spirit who can't bear the constrictions of a traditional life. Their father's unhappiness over his bohemian daughter's lifestyle leads him to drink and dissolution. To make matters worse, both of them have a man fall in love with them not realizing they are two different women…. (imdb)
Participant
Michael Mortilla is a composer and musician who for two decades has improvised scores to all manner of silent films for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among other organizations. (He has also worked with a pair of legendary choreographers: Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham.)
la > x – Exhibition and Film Festival
Berlin
Information
The kick-off event for la > x is the exhibition opening at FAHRBEREITSCHAFT on September 12, 2017, with works from Margaret Honda, Stephen Prina and Christopher Williams.
The film festival, curated by film scholar Dr. Marc Glöde will be shown at the kino arsenal – institute for film and video-art from 10 am to 10 pm with works by Edgar Arceneaux, John Baldessari, James Benning, Morgan Fisher, Alex Hubbard, Rodney McMillian, Sarah Morris, Ryan Trecartin and Jennifer West. The program also shows Berlin and LA as sister cities who despite their differences, look back on a long and broad film tradition, reaching from mainstream-cinema to artistic experimental films – which are the main focus of this program. The film presentations will be complemented by discussions surrounding the topic „statements and projections.“
At 9 pm, the concept artist, filmmaker and musician Stephen Prina will bring the program to an end with a concert on the cinema stage
The admission is free. This was made possible with the support from Regierender Bürgermeisters von Berlin – Senatskanzlei, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V., the office of taylor wessing and Haubrok Foundation.
Further Information on www.haubrok.org
la > x – Film Festival
Berlin
Information
The kick-off event for la > x is the exhibition opening at FAHRBEREITSCHAFT on September 12, 2017, with works from Margaret Honda, Stephen Prina and Christopher Williams.
The film festival, curated by film scholar Dr. Marc Glöde will be shown at the kino arsenal – institute for film and video-art from 10 am to 10 pm with works by Edgar Arceneaux, John Baldessari, James Benning, Morgan Fisher, Alex Hubbard, Rodney McMillian, Sarah Morris, Ryan Trecartin and Jennifer West. The program also shows Berlin and LA as sister cities who despite their differences, look back on a long and broad film tradition, reaching from mainstream-cinema to artistic experimental films – which are the main focus of this program. The film presentations will be complemented by discussions surrounding the topic „statements and projections.“
At 9 pm, the concept artist, filmmaker and musician Stephen Prina will bring the program to an end with a concert on the cinema stage
The admission is free. This was made possible with the support from Regierender Bürgermeisters von Berlin – Senatskanzlei, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V., the office of taylor wessing and Haubrok Foundation.
Further Information on www.haubrok.org
Program
wednesday september 13, 2017
10 am – 10 pm
10.15 – 10.30 am
reception and introduction by curator marc glöde
10.30 – 11.30 am
rodney mcmillian
untitled (america) (2002), 2:45 min
preacher man (2015), 6:08 min
untitled (sheet performance) (2005), 3:41 min
a song for nat (2012), 6:00 min
untitled (the great society) I (2006), 16:14 min
a migration tale (2014-2015), 10:00 min
courtesy susanne vielmetter los angeles projects
11.30 am – 1.00 pm
james benning
farocki (2004), 77:00 min
courtesy neugerriemschneider, berlin
1.00 – 2.30 pm
ryan trecartin
a family finds entertainment (2004), 40:09 min
junior war (2013), 24:25 min
courtesy regen projects, los angeles and sprüth magers, berlin/los angeles
2.30 – 3.30 pm
alex hubbard
hit wave (2012), 4:25 min
courtesy galerie neu
feat.
julie becker: federal building (2002), 28:45 min
courtesy the estate and greene naftali, new york
new wave theatre with peter ivers vol.1 (1982), 28:00 min
courtesy the estate of david jove
3.30 – 4.30 pm
jennifer west
rainbow party on 70mm film (2008), 0:38 min
a 70mm film wearing thick heavy black liquid eyeliner that gets smeary (2008), 0:30 min
salt crystals spiral jetty dead sea five year film (2013), 0:54 min
spiral of time documentary film (2013), 9:01 min
pink beach red desert dream sand film (2017), 3:21 min
film title poem (2016), 35 min special short version
courtesy marc foxx, los angeles
4.30 – 5.30 pm
edgar arceneaux
until, until, until… (2015), 30:00 min
courtesy susanne vielmetter los angeles projects
5.30 – 6.15 pm
statements and projections
sister cities berlin / los angeles
discussion with esther keller (senatskanzlei berlin), philomene magers (sprüth magers), kirsten niehuus (medienboard berlin-brandenburg), annette rupp (villa aurora & thomas mann house), axel haubrok (haubrok collection)
moderated by tobias timm (die zeit)
held in german
6.15 – 6.45 pm
john baldessari
baldessari sings lewitt (1972), 12:38 min
courtesy sprüth magers, berlin/los angeles
6.45 – 7.45 pm
morgan fisher
() (2003), 21:00 min
picture and sound rushes (1973), 11:00 min
() (2003), 21:00 min
courtesy galerie buchholz, cologne/berlin/new york
7.45 – 8.30 pm
statements and projections
edgar arceneaux, jennifer west, morgan fisher
introduced by marc glöde
8.30 – 9.00 pm
sarah morris
los angeles (2004), 26:12 min
courtesy capitain petzel, berlin
9.00 pm onward
stephen prina
concert
Artist Talk: Sandeep Mukherjee
68project (Fasanenstraße 68, 10719 Berlin)
Information
Sandeep Mukherjee, who lives and works in Los Angeles, not only fills entire exhibition rooms with his installations, but also makes these rooms physically experienceable. His work, which often consists of individual modules, reacts to the situation of the room, plays with light and shadow, and opens up new perspectives depending on the point of view. Sandeep Mukherjee is Berlin Fellow of Villa Aurora in 2017.
Partner
A cooperation with
VILLA @ GOETHE: Sebastian Mez
Goethe-Institut Los Angeles (5750 Wilshire Boulevard Suite 100 Los Angeles, CA 90036)
Information
Sebastian Mez will present and discuss the following films:
METAMORPHOSEN
Germany, 2013, 84 min., Russian (with English subtitles)
Director/Producer/Cinematographer: Sebastian Mez Assistant Director/Interpreter: Renata Kosenko Film Editor: Katharina Fiedler Sound & Mixing: Levitate
A winter landscape with figures in the southern Ural Mountains captured in high-contrast black-and-white. These images harbour an eerie beauty which, although it cannot be seen or heard, is nonetheless unmistakable. Flanking the course of the river Techa and extending some 23,000 square kilometres, this region is one of the most radioactively contaminated in the world. Regular daily use plus several major accidents at the nuclear plant Mayak, which has been operating in complete isolation from the rest of the world since 1948, have contaminated the water, the soil and the air in the region and exposed the people who live here to a permanent overdose of radiation. Even more astounding is the fact that the local people were given no warning of the effects of radiation contamination following the disastrous chemical explosion of 1957.
After Chernobyl and Fukushima, the Kyshtym accident is widely held to be the third worst disaster in the history of nuclear power. But today, 55 years after these apocalyptic events, the struggle of the people who live here is about more than just survival.
CLEAN UP
Germany, 2008, 9 min., English (with English subtitles).
Film Editing: Sebastian Mez Camera Operator: Julia Schlingmann Production Designer: Janine Dittmann Art Direction: Christoph Arni / Christian Trieloff / Sebastian Mez Producer: Christoph Arni Cinematography: Christian Trieloff Sound Design: Sebastian Mez Director: Sebastian Mez
It`s his job to clean this special room, an execution chamber at a state prison in the United States. Every time there is an execution, he has to return this place to its original state. This experimental short film offers an abnormal view on the death penalty.
SEBASTIAN MEZ: Filmmaker and video- and soundartist Sebastian Mez studied at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany with a focus on film directing.
His experimental film “Clean Up” has been presented at more than 40 international film festivals, and has received numerous awards. ’Ein Brief aus Deutschland’, which takes a special approach onto the subject of modern slavery and prostitution in Europe, won the international middle length competition at Visions du Réel in Nyon in 2011.
‘Metamorphosen, his first feature length film, premiered at the Berlinale 2013, followed by numerous screenings and awards at festivals worldwide. His experimental work 'Substanz' was nominated for the Filmkunstförderpreis of the National Gallery in Berlin 2015. Sebastian lives and works in Berlin.
Partners
With this screening, the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles continues its collaboration with the Villa Aurora’s artist-in-residence program. Under the label “Villa @ Goethe,” artists residing at the Villa Aurora have the opportunity to showcase their projects (past, present, and future) with the friends, patrons and guests at the Goethe-Institut.
Ignaz Schick: The music of the Berlin based turntablist, sound artist and composer
Villa Aurora (520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272)
Information
Ignaz Schick will perform a piece for turntable solo and two duets with the Los Angeles and Pasadena based musicians Joseph Hammer (tape machines) and Carolyn Chen (chinese zither, electronics).
Joseph Hammer is a legend in the LA experimental music scene. Besides performing an iconic body of solo music on tape machines he has also been a member of the renowned Los Angeles Free Music Society. Carolyn Chen is an up and coming composer of contemporary music who studied amongst others at UCSD San Diego. She also performs live with the traditional chinese zither and field recordings. Even though Schick has known Chen and Hammer for years this two duets will be first encounters.