Labs

Rabih Mroué

ABSENT BUT LIABLE TO COME BACK

Workshop

The workshop will focus on the idea of absence, reflecting upon it by raising questions of how one could deal with topics like disappearance, void, memory, rumors, war and death.
The absence as possibility to play on the notions of truth and untruth, reality and fiction, to blur the traces, passing from one side to the other without borders, reversing the signs, stirring up the norms and shaking up certainty, discovering the role of politics in order to create a new ‘unreal’ reality or a virtual one.
The participants are invited to give their thoughts and work, together or separately, on proposals that deal with absence and departure from their own experiences and their particular circumstances.

Rabih Mroué. Born in Beirut and currently living in Berlin, Mroué is a theatre director, actor, visual artist and playwright. He is the co-founder of the Beirut Art Center (BAC), and a contributing editor for TDR/ The Drama Review. He has performed and exhibited internationally including dOCUMENTA (13), MoMa, and Centre Pompidou. 

Isaki Lacuesta

THE ECHO IMAGES
Conference

Cinema exists beyond the movie theaters, it has infinite forms. Lacuesta will exhibit some of his installations, exhibitions and interactive concerts—all works that he still considers to be films; however, devised in relation to the space, inviting the spectator to move, act and be the final editor. As Judith Revault d'Allones, curator of Lacuesta's retrospective at the Centre Pompidou, wrote "The unfolding and duality are at the centre of Isaki Lacuesta's creation. (...) Seeing and reviewing, from different perspectives. More than a method, a policy is drawn, and the films unfold". The images also make echoes.

Isaki Lacuesta (1975, Girona) has written and directed nine feature films, the last of which Entre dos aguas won him his second Concha de Oro at the San Sebastian Festival. It was awarded for best film and best actor at the Mar del Plata Film Festival, as well as seven Gaudí awards, including best non-Catalan language film and best director. His films have been screened at festivals all over the world and in artistic centers such as MoMA, the Lincoln Center, and Anthology Film Archives, as well as the Centre de Cultura Contemporània of Barcelona. Also, other centres such as the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the National Gallery in Washington have dedicated complete retrospectives to his work.

Xabier Erkizia

EPISODE 1

EPISODE 2

EPISODE 3

EPISODE 4

EPISODE 5

EPISODE 6

EPISODE 7

THERE'S NO PUNTO DE VISTA (POINT OF VIEW) FOR THE SENSE OF HEARING

Podcast

The far-off whirring of the reel or the discrete humming of the projector fan reveal that silence does not exist in the cinema. Even after the last session, once all the loudspeakers have been switched off, even in the sleepiest room, the remotest one, the cinema is still going on. The challenge is to capture it. Therefore, it may prove useless to use sound to describe an event that is primarily designed to be pleasing to the eye. Or perhaps, it may be paradoxically revealing. After all, the ears are simply two screens! A radio presentation in the form of a podcast by radio BRBA (brba.audio-lab.org) for the Punto de Vista Festival. A kind of journal of the film festival, using sounds.

Xabier Erkizia (Lesaka, 1975) is a sound researcher, producer and artist. He works in the field of the culture of listening, as a freelance researcher and in collaboration with many institutions, groups and artists. He composes music, researches the sound landscape and creates installations, radiophonic works and sound design for films. He was one of the organisers of the ERTZ event (1999-2018), and he coordinated the sound department at the Arteleku centre (2002-2014). Erkizia has curated various exhibitions and programmes. His work has been presented in countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. He is a member of the Audiolab association.

Ricardo Matos Cabo

RISING TIDES—THE DOCUMENTARY FILMS OF TSUCHIMOTO NORIAKI
Screening and talk

The great Japanese documentarian Tsuchimoto Noriaki dedicated much of his career to making films about the small fishing communities affected by mercury industrial pollution in the Minamata area. Throughout the years, his approach to filmmaking changed in response to the struggle and needs of the people whose lives were affected by this disaster and by the neglect from the authorities. Tsuchimoto's practice has been called "symbiotic" in the way it related closely to the people and their environment. This illustrated talk will complement the screening of The Shiranui Sea (1975) and provide an introductory overview of his filmography. It will focus on how environmental concerns have shaped his work from his very early films onwards, and how these have evolved throughout the years, embodying a form of caring, activism and political critique that is as relevant today as it was then.

Ricardo Matos Cabo is an independent film programmer. Recent projects include retrospectives of the work of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub (London, 2019), Tsuchimoto Noriaki (Courtisane. Ghent, 2019), Ogawa Shinsuke and Ogawa Pro (Cinéma du réel, Galerie du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2018), several co-curated programmes for The Essay film festival in London (Esfir Shub, Babette Mangolte, Kidlat Tahimik, Mani Kaul, Günter Peter Straschek), and contributions to the documentary strand of the London Korean Film Festival. He has edited a monograph on the films of Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa ("Cem Mil Cigarros", 2009).

Conversations: Simon Field/Andrea Lissoni

Within the framework of Punto de Vista Labs, we propose a series of conversations between professionals who exchange ideas about their practices and careers. With this relaxed and intimate format, always based on the dialogue between two guests, we generate a new space for reflection on film and other disciplines, which will allow us to broaden our understanding of documentary. 

Simon Field directed the film department of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London from 1988 to 1996, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam until 2004. He is the producer of several films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and has co-produced films by Tsai-Ming Liang and Paz Encina, among others.

Andrea Lissoni is co-founder and programmer of VDrome, an online platform offering a film and video art program. He was curator of international art and film at the Tate Modern from 2014 to 2019, and is currently the Artistic Director of The Haus der Kunst museum in Munich. 

Conversations: Mónica Valenciano/Idoia Zabaleta

Within the framework of Punto de Vista Labs, we propose a series of conversations between professionals who exchange ideas about their practices and careers. With this relaxed and intimate format, always based on the dialogue between two guests, we generate a new space for reflection on film and other disciplines, which will allow us to broaden our understanding of documentary. 

Mónica Valenciano is a National Dance Prize winner, choreographer, dancer, poet and painter. She is also the protagonist of the documentary "He venido a leer la noche", directed by Manuel Fernández-Valdés, which is part of the official section.

Idoia Zabaleta is a choreographer, cultural manager, teacher and director of the company Moare Danza. In 2008 she created Azala, a space for artistic residencies that promotes research and the dissemination of stage creation.

Conversations: Rabih Mroué/Aurora Fernández Polanco

Within the framework of Punto de Vista Labs, we propose a series of conversations between professionals who exchange ideas about their practices and careers. With this relaxed and intimate format, always based on the dialogue between two guests, we generate a new space for reflection on film and other disciplines, which will allow us to broaden our understanding of documentary. 

Rabih Mroué is a theatre director, actor, visual artist and playwright. He is a co-founder of the Beirut Art Center (BAC) and editor of the magazine TDR/ The Drama Review. He has performed and exhibited internationally in dOCUMENTA (13), MoMa and Centre Pompidou, among others. In film, he has collaborated with the artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige.

Aurora Fernández Polanco is a professor of Theory and History of Contemporary Art at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She is the director for the project "Critical Views: Cultural Ecologies and Common Research". She has written essays on contemporary art and visual studies, and curated several exhibitions. She is the editor of the bilingual magazine Re-visiones (www.re-visiones.net). The last book she has published is "Crítica visual del saber solitario" (Bilbao, Consonni, 2019).