Posting #32

CELESTIAL OBJECTS — A program of two screenings held in Galicia (northwestern Spain) conceived and organized by Andrea Franco.

1st Session: April 15, 2023

2nd Session: June 17, 2023

The following is from an Instagram post by the curator:

lobo_lamour  If you are in Galicia, I encourage you to come to this sample of cosmic cinema that we will celebrate in the new space of the @galeriavilasecolab in Chantada (Lugo). Not only is it a chance to get out of town and detox from the smoke and noise, but also to see some very hard-to-see films, like Jordan Belson, which are slowly being restored thanks to the work of the @ctrvisualmusic. We will also see a film never again earlier projected by painter and filmmaker Joseph Bernard (@josephbernard.art), filmed in Super 8 and digitized quickly, before the fungi that had affected the film completely destroyed the roll; and still, it's a gorgeous film!

And we’ll also see films by Stan Brakhage, Dominic Angerame, Maya Deren, Lawrence Jordan or Emily Richardson—and incredible satellite imagery, thanks to research by the duo Semiconductor (@semiconductor_artists). And we couldn't miss the spatial visions of pioneers like Méliès and Segundo de Chomón, classics that we put in orbit with young artists, such as Leslie Supnet (the image of the cycle is from his film, Second Sun); Alexi Manis or Tess Martin (@tessmartinart). Come along! This is like a kite, it only happens once! 🌘

Image: Sun Song (1979)

This programme, tries to capture the fascination for Astronomy and the Cosmos of a series of filmmakers who, since the origins of cinema, have explored the appearance and mysteries of the universe. The screen unfolds here like a night sky capable of revealing not only phenomena invisible to the naked eye, as shown in the films by Emily Richardson or Dominic Angerame, but also extravagant fantasies, the fruit of the artist's imagination, (Segundo de Chomón, Georges Melies…). Painted cinema that draws the firmament on the film (Stan Brakhage) or the infinite yellow shades of the sun's sphere (Joseph Bernard); abstract and transcendent films, where astronomy merges with oriental philosophies (Jordan Belson); raw material from the satellites themselves, such as that collected by the Semiconductor duo; or cosmic and fun dances, such as those created by Maya Deren, Leslie Supnet or Lawrence Jordan. The universe as a continuous flow of energy, movement and regeneration (Tess Martin), whose phenomena, signs and signals challenge us from above (Alexi Manis). These celestial objects are also (or above all), the films themselves, flashes of light in the dark room.  - A.F.