As the LaborBerlin Pilot Artist in Residence (July 2016), I was asked to work with the lab’s newly acquired Crass Animation Stand and Optical Printer System. This was an opportunity to advance past work involving interference patterns, or the “Moiré effect”. Prior to the residency, I finished a film titled, Temples it Knows No Longer. This film employs animation and multiple exposure techniques, in combination with filtered light, to create a motion picture mandala. Here, superimposed colors rotate and blend according to patterns created by interlacing circles. In an effort to further develop this technique, I sought to replace moving images where there had previously been only colored light.
The process involved animating a matte, and from that, printing its reverse or counter matte.
Both seen here:
These matte elements were then optically printed, along with filmed footage, to create a composite of two moving images.
The tests can be seen here:
The footage brought together in these composite images was photographed at Field Station Berlin, located on the outskirts of what was formerly West Berlin. This site is significant as a bygone NSA “listening post”, an American installation designed to intercept East German transmissions. Though defunct, the Field Station inspired me to consider the contemporary debate concerning political boundaries in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. I am exploring how the interference patterns, applied to such imagery, provide a way to visualize and assess this ongoing dialogue. The tests serve as part of a current project exploring the notion of borders (and crossings), both real and virtual.
As a side project I also created a short animation using a book purchased from a secondhand shop near LaborBerlin. The text, an instructional manual, comprises step-by-step images of Judo throws in sequence. I photographed them to reconstitute the movement inherent in these still images across time. It’s a fun movie. It’s called Umarmungen, or Hugs in English.
15.09-2016 — 18.09.2016, 15h – 20h
Studio Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani, Auguststraße 26, 10117 Berlin
An installation of projectors, made by LaborBerlin members Antonio Castles and Lucas Maia, that deals with polarised light, the idea of stereoscopy and the decomposition of the moving image. It will be displayed in the studio of the artist duo Nina Fischer and Maroan el Sani (Fischer el Sani in the doorbell).
Our artist-in-residence Andrew Kim taught a two day 16mm workshop (23.07 – 24.07.2016). Participants learned how to expose different b&w film stocks with a bolex camera and hand developed the footage as b&w reversal.
This workshop was part of RE MI. Photos by Laurence Favre.
LaborBerlin welcomes Andrew Kim as our first Artist-in-residence. Within the residency, Andrew will take advantage of our Crass Animation Stand and create a new work exploring the machine’s artistic possibilities.
As a compliment to his production work, Andrew will also lead a workshop (tba) and present two screenings which will feature his own films and a selection of films made by fellow Los Angeles based filmmakers.
Andrew Kim is an experimental filmmaker whose work is inspired by the material properties of cinema and its unique ability to exemplify abstract ideas and ineffable feelings. Combining formal experimentation with a concern for the phenomenology of the cinematic experience, Andrew’s films are an attempt to understand the movement of the mind. Ultimately, his films attempt to transcend the exact mechanics of motion pictures such that a film might articulate a new kind of knowledge.
His films have screened at a variety of venues and festivals including the Ann Arbor Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Festival du Nouveau Cinema (Montreal), Images Festival (Toronto), BAFICI (Buenos Aries), UnionDocs, and Los Angeles Filmforum, among others. Andrew lives in Los Angeles, California. There he is a staff member at the Echo Park Film Center and teaches film production at the California Institute of the Arts.
He will be in Berlin from July 10 until August 10.
LaborBerlin member, Juan David González Monroy taught a two day introduction workshop on the Crass Animation stand. Participants learned all the basic functions of the Crass system and shot and developed the short animation found in the video below.
This workshop was part of RE MI. Photos by Laurence Favre.
Save the date: Analogue Zone Finale
June 16-19, 2016 Berlin / Cairo / Athens (2012-2016)
The project ANALOGUE ZONE (2012-2016) closes with film screenings at the Arsenal – Institute for film and video art and an exhibition, performances and a panel discussion at LaborBerlin / PA58 (Prinzenallee 58). An event with international guests – 16.06-19.06 2016.
ANALOGUE ZONE is a long term project based on a celluloid film training program, involving more than 40 film makers, artists, and amateurs from Egypt, Germany, and Greece. It took place in Cairo and Berlin between 2012 -2016. The workshops resulted in the collective production of around 30 analogue films which both document and bear witness to the initial questionings and responses of a generation of artists to the transition taking place in the region, and particularly Cairo.
The ANALOGUE ZONE FINALE presents films, film performances and film installations, which were produced during the program. The event opens on Thursday, the 16th of June with an exhibition and a book- and DVD publication connected to the program. Two film screenings at the Arsenal will show Super 8 and 16mm works of the participants. Highlight of the event takes place on Saturday, the 18th of June with panel discussion followed by a garden dinner and an performance evening at LaborBerlin’s new location at Prinzenallee 58. The program consisted of three intensive, mostly practical workshops.
The first workshop established the first independent film lab in Cairo at the alternative film centre CIMATHEQUE through comprising 8 and 16 mm shooting and editing facilities, a processing laboratory, archive library, and screening facilities. During the workshops in Cairo and Berlin practical and technical knowledge about analogue film was mediated methodically, so the Egyptian participants got professional transporters of this knowledge. During the last workshop transnational collaborations were realized.
ANALOGUE ZONE is based on an intensive exchange between the independent film associations LaborBerlin and Cimatheque (Cairo) in cooperation with LabA (Athens). The project is funded by the European Cultural Foundation and the Senat Berlin.
8pm. film screening at the Arsenal Cinema (Potsdamer Straße 2)
A Stroll Down Sunflower Lane, Mayye Zayed, Egypt / Al Maraya, Gustavo Jahn & Melissa Dullius, Germany/ Egypt / ii, Theofanis de Lezioso, Egypt/ Greece / Acapella, Islam Safiyyudin Mohamed, Egypt / And the smile is red on red, Clara Bausch, Egypt/Germany / Apt. 5, Sama Waly, Egypt / Corner, Maged Nader, Egypt / The Panel, Vassily Bourikas, Egypt/Greece
4 pm. panel discussion (Engl.) “Transnational collaboration projects and their sustainability” with Hana Al Bayaty, Sarah Rifky, Vassily Bourikas, Michel Balagué followed by a discussion with the Analogue Zone participants
7 pm. Garden Dinner (please rsvp. to linn.loeffler@gmail.com)
9 pm. performance evening performances by Anja Dornieden & Juan David Gonzales Monroy, Sarah Rifky
8pm. film screening at the Arsenal Cinema (Potsdamer Straße 2)
A Working Copy, Islam El Azazzi, Egypt Germany / Color Me, Ahmed Nour & Asma Abdallah, Egypt / Portraits, Maged Nader, Egypt / Falling into Oneself, Islam Safiyyudin & Tarek Hefny, Egypt / Love has other colors, Aida Elkashef & Laila Sami, Egypt / Dream Number 2, Amr Wishahy, Egypt / Plan B, Tarek Zaki, Egypt / And round we go, Ian Douglas, Egypt / Triangulum, Gustavo Jahn & Melissa Dullius, Germany/ Egypt/ Brasil Artist and initiators of the program: Michel Balagué, Hana Al Bayaty, Tamer El Said, Vassily Bourikas, Islam el Azzazi, Maged Nager, Sarah Rifky, Gustavo Jahn, Clara Bausch, Juan David Gonzales Monroy & Anja Dornieden will be present.
Floris Vanhoof spent two days this week with us teaching his workshop The Projector as Instrument. The group used contact printing and high contrast film to make loops which they subsequently altered through projection.
This workshop was part of the RE MI. Photos by Laurence Favre.
Date: Monday, May 16 & Tuesday, May 17 2016
Workshop: 10:00 – 17:00 both days
Location: LaborBerlin e.V., Prinzenallee 58, 13359 Berlin
This workshop is open to non-LaborBerlin members.
Previous processing experience is recommended, but not necessary.
LaborBerlin is proud to welcome Floris Vanhoof to lead the first workshop of the RE-MI (Re-Engineering Moving Image) project. REMI is a cooperation project run by Mire (Nantes, FR), WORM.Filmwerkplaats (Rotterdam, NL) and LaborBerlin (Berlin, DE), focused on the creation, preservation and circulation of technical knowledge of analogue film in order to support its use as a creative medium.
Floris will lead participants in exploring the possibilities of the film projector as an artistic tool. Together they will shoot, develop and print footage in black and white and color which they will combine with multiple projectors to explore different techniques of loop phasing. Join us in transforming the projector from a passive device into an an instrument that can push the boundaries of perception. More information about the workshop can be found on here.
Floris Vanhoof from Antwerpen (BE), is a media-archeologist who deliberately chooses analogue technology, not for nostalgic reasons but because he wants to experiment with what once has been considered high-tech. His work also includes new technologies like microprocessors. Technology is not an end in itself but a means to explore new images, ideas and sounds in a poetic way.
Participation is limited and pre-registration is required. To register for the workshop please send an email to labor.organisation@gmail.com
From April 11 to 15, ten lab members worked with Lutz Garmsen to learn the ins and outs of the Crass animation and optical printing equipment. After 5 days of intense work we were able to set up a fully functioning animation table with the option of shooting on either 16, super 16 or 35mm, plus the option of using rear projection on 16mm. We also set up a optical printing bench that allows us to do 16mm optical printing and blow ups from 16mm to 35mm.
Thanks to Lutz Garmsen for all the help and guidance. We’re eager to see the great new works that the machines will allow LaborBerlin members to bring into the world!
This masterclass was part of the RE MI. Photos by Laurence Favre.
Last night the impossible happened! Overnight we reached an unbelievable 101% of our funding goal! Every one of us at LaborBerlin is absolutely drowning in gratitude for all the support and donations that have flooded in over the last 6 weeks of our campaign. For everyone who could not donate but supported us in countless other ways we are also incredibly grateful!
We are on top of the world right now to know that great things can happen when enough people gather around and demand to see a change!
From the very beginning we had no idea that we could grow such a strong movement. But what was clear already is that throughout this campaign LaborBerlin has been changing. We have reached beyond ourselves and contextualised who we are, both locally in Berlin, but also globally amongst the network of awesome analogue activists from Indonesia to Cairo to Toronto and everywhere in-between. We are humbled by our incredible new connections to others who also demand that analogue film is here to stay. & we dreamed about what we want to see for the future!
But it is each and everyone of our ANALOGUE FILM WARRIORS who has made this possible! We really made some noise together!! & LaborBerlin is already expanded with all your voices shouting out loudly with us that FILM AIN’T DEAD!!!!
Thank you a thousand million times from the very bottom of our analogue beating hearts!
