Impakt Event: Marcel Broodthaers In 1957, Broodthaers shot his first short film. And between 1967 and 1976, many more would follow, the shortest having a duration of 1 second exactly. Nearly all films shot by Broodthaers during his lifetime have been included in this program. The program will be introduced and exemplified by Hans de Wolf, professor of Art Sciences at the Free University of Brussels, who will also interview Maria Gilissen, Marcel Broodthaer’s widow. Date: 17 June 2008, 19:00 Location: Film Theater 't Hoogt, Hoogt 4, Utrecht Fee: 7,50 Euro (CJP/U-pas: 6 Euro) Reservations: 't Hoogt: + 31 (0) 30 - 232 83 88 / info@hoogt.nl This screening has been organized in cooperation with the AAMU, Museum for Contemporary Aboriginal Art located at the Oudegracht 176 in Utrecht. Until the 5th of October 2008, the AAMU will show various works of Marcel Broodthaers within the framework of the ‘Nomads in Art’ exhibition (see also AAMU). On submission of your AAMU entrance ticket, your ticket to the Impakt Event will cost you only 5 euro, and vice versa. Film Program Ceci ne serait pas une Pipe (Un film du Musée d’ Art Moderne), Marcel Broodthaers (Belgium, 1969/70, 2:00 min) This is one of a series of films that Broodthaers made on the subject of the pipe, a reference to "This is Not a Pipe" by René Magritte. A static camera depicts images of a pipe, clock, and smoke against a whitewashed brick wall with a black hole. The engraved titles, including Figure I and Figure II, were added in 1971 and recur throughout Broodthaers oeuvre. Eau de Cologne, Marcel Broodthaers (Germany , 1974, 2:00 min) A child’s voice at the beginning and end of the film repeats its title and the date, 1974, in French, German and English in such a way as to evoke the number '4711' a well-known Cologne scent of that name. Vertical panning shots of Cologne Cathedral and of Broodthaers holding a potted palm tree are accompanied by an accordion playing "Le Chaland qui Passe. " The film was previewed in a slightly longer format in June 1974 at the Melville Paris Pullman cinema in Cologne, though Broodthaers’s subsequently cut it to 2 minutes for its first public screening. La Lune, Marcel Broodthaers (Belgium, 1970, 3:00 min) Monsieur Teste, Marcel Broodthaers (Belgium /France, 1974/75, 2:00 min) The film shows a suited mechanical dummy reading the French newspaper L’Express. Static camera work is juxtaposed with the movement of the camera from side to side, echoing the motion of the figure’ s head as he peruses the journal. Though shot in Brussels, the film was edited in Paris and was initially titled "Mouvement," which Broodthaers subsequently changed to "Monsieur Teste." Projet Pour un Poisson (Projet pour un Film), Marcel Broodthaers (Belgium/Germany, 1970/71, 9:00 min) The main part of this film was made by an engraving process: Broodthaers’s ink drawings of fish, scales, words and signs were transferred to film stock which were used both in the positive and in the negative. In contrast, the title sequence, added in 1971, shows Broodthaers’s drawn storyboards filmed with a moving camera. The film was shown for the first time at the Galerie Michael Werner in Cologne in 1971, and a second film "Le Poisson est Tenace," was created partly from its out-takes. Crime à Cologne, Marcel Broodthaers (Germany, 1971, 1:30 min) In 1971, Broodthaers’s exhibited at the Cologne Art Fair and the Galerie Michael Werner nineteen altered copies of the fair’ s catalogue. He inscribed onto the books the names of nineteen poets, artists and filmmakers, which he also displayed in the gallery window. This film was shot at the gallery during the exhibition, where a woman reads a book by John Blackberry. The music, which continues throughout the film, even after the last image, is Offenbach's’ "Orphée aux Enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld)," 1859. La Pipe Satire, Marcel Broodthaers (Belgium , 1969/70, 3:00 min) Une Seconde d’ Eternité (D’ apres une idée de Charles Baudelaire), Marcel Broodthaers (Germany, 1970, 7:00 min) In a film that he declared to be inspired by Charles Baudelaire, Broodthaers employed the techniques of animation. Using a pen on white card, he drew his initials in twenty four stages and filmed each drawing in one opening of the camera shutter. The resulting film was projected at 24 frames per second, so that it lasted just one second. It was screened in a continuous loop at the Galerie Folker Skulima, alongside a sculpted reproduction of the 24th frame, as a means of Œpresenting the static against the kinetic imageˆ Un Film de Charles Baudelaire, Marcel Broodthaers (Belgium/France, 1970, 7:00 min) This film was made on the occasion of a seminar on Charles Baudelaire given by Lucien Goldmann at Brussels University in 1969-70. It exists in an English version and a French one, the latter never shown during Broodthaers’ s lifetime. The film purports to be the second version of a (fictional) film made by Baudelaire in 1850 in memory of his (actual) voyage across the Pacific. It was shot using a world map mounted on black board, filmed in its entirety and in extreme close- up. The subtitles were engraved on the prints during Broodthaers’ s lifetime. Un Jardin d’ Hiver (ABC), Marcel Broothaers (Belgium, 1974, 6:00 min) The subject of the film is Broodthaers’ s Winter Garden - including palm trees, folding chairs and natural history prints - in one room of a group exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in January 1974. The film was shown as a part of "Un Jardin d’ Hiver II" in Broodthaers’ s solo exhibition, "Catalogue-Catalogus," at the same museum later that year. The sound track that accompanies the film is one that Broodthaers had discovered in a sound studio. Berlin oder ein Traum mit Sahne, Marcel Broodthaers (Germany, 1974, 10:00 min) Broodthaers made the film in 1974 while in a six-month residency under the DAAD programme. It was shown at the National Galerie on the occasion of the exhibition "Invitation pour une exposition bourgeoise" in the spring of 1975. The film - which depicts Berlin scenery, intercut with scenes of Broodthaers smoking, reading, eating and daydreaming - is accompanied by the sound of Maria Gilissen playing the tune "Parlami d’ amore, Mariú" on the accordion. La Bataille de Waterloo, Marcel Broodthaers (Great Brittain, 1975, 11:20 min) For his exhibition "Décor : A Conquest" at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) London in 1975, Broodthaers set up two rooms on the upper floor of the ICA with furniture, plants, firearms, photographs and several other objects. One room represents the nineteenth century, with a contemporary interior design and two cannons and a rifle from the Napoleonic era (props for film studios from Bapty & Co. Ltd., Stage and Film Warlike Stores). The other room represents the twentieth century, with an arrangement of typical garden furniture and shelves stacked with machine guns to remind the visitor of the contemporary wars. The accompanying film consists of shots filmed inside of "Décor," combined with scenes recorded from the "Trooping of the Colour," 14 June 1975. Complementing the romantic melodies from the opening of Wagner’ s "Tristan und Isolde" were the military shoutings from the "Trooping of the Colour." The juxtaposition highlighted the bizarre conflicts that "Décor" presents and the absurdity of the wars it evokes. The film was first shown to the public at the Tate Gallery in 1976. |
|
