UK PREMIERES OF NEW WORK FROM KEN JACOBS AND ANDREW KOTTING AT ROXY
Having just been voted in the best five cinemas in London (Time Out) this
April Roxy Bar & Screen will present two UK premieres of new work from
American experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs, and English filmmaker Andrew
Kötting in an animate! retrospective of his work.
8pm, Tuesday 3rd April
Secret Cinema present Two Wrenching Departures by Ken Jacobs
FREE entry
8pm, Wednesday 18th April
animate! Artists Up Close & Personal Andrew Kötting
FREE entry
Roxy Bar & Screen, London SE1
www.roxybarandscreen.com
Two Wrenching Departures
Ken Jacobs, USA, 2006, video, b/w, sound, 90 mins
In his amazing live performances, Ken Jacobs breathed new life into archival
film footage, teasing frozen frames into impossible depth and perpetual
motion with two 16mm analytic projectors. Now aged 74, the artist explores
new ways of documenting and developing his innovative Nervous System
techniques in the digital realm.
Two Wrenching Departures, featuring the legendary Jack Smith (both clownish
and devilishly handsome circa 1957), extends five minutes of material into a
ninety-minute opus of eight movements. In and out of junk heap costume,
Smith cavorts through the streets of New York (much consternation from the
normals) and performs an impossible, traffic island ballet.
His improvised actions are transformed into perceptual games as Jacobs'
interrogates his footage, using repetition and pulsating flicker to open up
new dimensions and temporal twists: The infinite ecstasy of little things.
In commemorating two dear departed friends, with whom he collaborated on
Blonde Cobra and other works, he propels their image into everlasting
motion. These mindbending visions are juxtaposed with the soundtrack of The
Barbarian, a 1933 Arabian fantasy starring Ramon Navarro and Myrna Loy, and
music by Carl Orff.
"In October 1989, estranged friends Bob Fleischner and Jack Smith died
within a week of each other. Ken Jacobs met Smith through Fleischner in 1955
at CUNY night school, where the three were studying camera techniques. This
feature-length work, first performed in 1989 as a live Nervous System piece
is a luminous threnody' (Mark McElhatten) made in response to the loss of
Jacobs' friends."
Ken Jacobs (born 1933) is one of the key figures of post-war cinema, whose
films include Little Stabs at Happiness (1958-60), Blonde Cobra (1959-63),
Tom Tom the Piper's Son (1969-71), The Doctor's Dream (1978), Perfect Film
(1986) and Disorient Express (1995). He has also presented live
cine-theatre (2D and 3D shadow plays) and developed the Nervous System and
Nervous Magic Lantern projection techniques. Since 1999, Jacobs has
primarily used electronic media, both in preserving his live performances
and creating new digital works in a variety of styles. His 7-hour epic Star
Spangled To Death (1957-2004) is now available on DVD from Big Commotion
Pictures at www.starspangledtodeath.com
Presented by Secret Cinema
www.secretcinema.co.uk
8pm, Tuesday 3rd April
FREE entry
Andrew Kötting
Andrew has been at the forefront of UK filmmaking since the early eighties,
and is best known for his multi-award winning feature documentary Gallivant,
and his immense short film output including comedy-drama in Smart Alek
co-written by comedian Sean Lock and his experimental animation animate!
commission Kingdom Protista.
His recent experiments have led to the web-based work Mapping Perception,
performance and exhibition in his powerful In The Wake of A Deadad project
and even a cross channel swim in his most recent short film Offshore.
Tonights screening will include the premiere of Cette Sale Terre, a single
screen presentation of the three monitor installation taken from This Filthy
Earth originally developed for a French gallery show.
Andrew will be in conversation with Gareth Evans following the screening.
Programme:
JAUNT a journey down the Thames from Southend Pier to Westminster
DONKEYHEAD co-directed with Andrew Lindsay, an early experiment with
computer animation
KINGDOM PROTISTA an animate! commission
SMART ALEK black comedy co-written by and starring Sean Lock
CETTE SALE TERRE
8pm, Wednesday 18th April
FREE entry
animate!
Despite the recent sudden and sad death of Dick Arnall, founder and driving
force behind animate! the group is launching a new monthly artist
retrospective night at Roxy Bar & Screen. Each night will focus on artists
who have undertaken an animate! commission since the schemes inception in
1990 and will feature screenings of their past work followed by chosen
artist in conversation with Gareth Evans.
Future artists include Chris Shepherd and The Brothers Quay. This is a rare
chance to meet some of the best filmmakers, animators and artistes working
in the UK today, and to experience their work first hand up close and
personal!
animate!
www.animateonline.org
Roxy Bar & Screen
Address: 128 132 Borough High Street London SE1 1LB
Tube: Borough (Northern Line) or London Bridge (Northern, Jubilee Line)
Train: London Bridge
Bus: Buses 21, 35, 40, 133 and 343
Telephone: 020 7407 4057
Website: www.roxybarandscreen.com
Please note, the venue is over-18s only.
