From: Elly Clarke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Press Release October 2007
JORAM TEN BRINK
ELLY CLARKE
THE JOURNEY/MOSCOW TO BEIJING
26 October 2007 - 6 January 2008
Elly Clarke and Joram ten Brink's journey on the Trans-Siberian train
forms the basis of the exhibition 'The Journey/Moscow to Beijing' at
London Gallery West. Travelling together as part of the 'Capturing the
Moving Mind'1 conference taking place on the train, the exhibition
reveals two distinct yet related interpretations of the same event.
Joram ten Brink's 16mm film The Journey is a poetic essay that weaves
together images taken on and off the train with stills of modern and
ancient Russia and China. As the film unfolds, these images are
blended with a soundtrack layering music, dialogue, atmospheric
effects and station announcements to recreate the disembodied
experience of travel. Drawing equally from the traditions of
documentary, personal cinema and diary films, The Journey constantly
shifts its parameters, forcing the viewer to reassess the origin and
meaning of the exotic content of the film. In the repeated viewing
context of looped gallery projection the numerous cinematic narratives
and shifting points of view in The Journey are particularly effective
as they allow for multiple readings of the work.
Using a range of formal strategies from documentary to art
photography, Clarke's project Moscow to Beijing is investigative and
interactive in nature: it consists of large-scale hand-printed colour
photographs, snapshots, interviews with passengers, a 3-screen video
installation, postcards and local ephemera. This diversity of
materials and approaches mirrors the fragmented nature of her enquiry,
which aims to transcend the barriers of language, nationality and
geography. Clarke's project creates an intimate space in which the
subjectivities of the passengers she encounters on the train can be
gleaned. In her work the artist is a cipher, attempting to produce
images from a position of trust in which the subjects are active, if
sometimes resistant, participants.
Ten Brink and Clarke offer here a series of interpretations of the
Trans-Siberian train journey – not a cohesive 'Great Train Journey' of
the traditional television documentary, but a truly contemporary take
on the nature of travel in a globalised and media-saturated world,
where images and experiences can no longer be just what they seem.
1 Capturing the Moving Mind: Management and Movement in the Era of
Permanently Temporary War held on the Trans-Siberian train, 11–20
September 2005.
Joram ten Brink is a Reader in Film at the School of Media, Arts and
Design at the University of Westminster, where he also heads doctoral
studies in art and design and directs the AHRC-funded Arts on Film
archive. He works as a writer/director of documentary and experimental
films in the UK and Holland, and his work has been screened at the
Berlin and Rotterdam film festivals, and at MOMA in New York. His
edited volume Building Bridges – the Cinema of Jean Rouch is published
this year by Wallflower Press.
Elly Clarke is an artist based in London. She has a Masters in Fine
Art from Central Saint Martins and an Undergraduate degree in History
of Art from Leeds. Her work has been shown in the UK and abroad,
including Globe Hub in Newcastle, the Banff Centre in Canada, the
Kiasma Museum in Helsinki, and in London. She is a current contributor
to Control Magazine (Issue 17).
A full-colour illustrated catalogue produced to coincide with the
exhibition is available for purchase from London Gallery West, price
£5.00
Opening Times: Daily 09.00 – 17.00
Private View: Thursday 25 October 17.00 – 20.00 at London Gallery West
Gallery Talk – Sarah Carrington, formerly of curatorial partnership
B&B, in conversation with Joram ten Brink and Elly Clarke:
Wednesday 14 November 14.30 – 15:30 at London Gallery West
Press images available on request.
London Gallery West
University of Westminster
Watford Road
Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3TP
phone:+44 (0) 20 7911 5000 X4771
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Elly Clarke
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.axisweb.org/artist/ellyclarke
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