Publiek Park: Guy Sherwin

1998 various loca­ti­ons / 2023 Belgium
Film instal­la­ti­on, 16mm & DV on 4x DV pro­jec­tors, silent, looped

A selec­ti­on from Animal Studies, an ongo­ing series of stu­dies of the incon­se­quen­ti­al move­ments of (most­ly small) ani­mals – eve­ry­day insects, ants, moths, spi­ders, bir­ds, coo­ts that are all over the park – and how to make sen­se of them fil­mi­cally. Often hand-prin­ted in a vari­e­ty of ways, using chan­ges of light, geo­me­try or time, the series began in 16mm part­ly in res­pon­se to the rapid digi­ti­sa­ti­on of the moving ima­ge and its rene­wed capa­ci­ty to lie. More recent­ly, I have con­ti­nued it on DV, making use of tho­se pos­si­bi­li­ties. My fil­mic inte­rest in ani­mals is that they are unself­con­scious, authen­tic and can’t act. The cen­tral idea is of a sin­gle take deter­mi­ning each film’s direc­ti­on. (GS)

For this fes­ti­val, sec­ti­ons were redis­tri­bu­ted across the four screens of the band­stand in a loop of c. 10 minu­tes on each of the screens. It takes about 40 minu­tes to see them all.

Performance for 16mm pro­jec­tor, transpa­rent screen and whi­te paint
1975 England / 2023 Belgium, silent, c. 10 min

Paper Landscape (1975-ongo­ing) is one of Guy Sherwin’s most ico­nic per­for­man­ces, a phe­no­me­n­al time machi­ne that links inti­ma­te expe­rien­ce to a reflec­ti­on on cine­ma. It is one of a series of ear­ly self-port­rait per­for­man­ces that see Sherwin as a kind of film magi­ci­an inter­ac­ting in the live moment with a pre-recor­ded ver­si­on of himself.

Paper Landscape starts with the pro­jec­tor illu­mi­na­ting a transpa­rent poly­the­ne screen. Behind the screen stands the artist who applies whi­te paint to the poly­the­ne. As a result, the film ima­ge is reve­a­led; it shows himself in 1975 slow­ly tea­ring up a paper screen of the same size to reve­al a lands­ca­pe. With the live per­for­mer gra­du­al­ly wal­ling himself in behind a lay­er of whi­te paint, the atten­ti­on of the audien­ce turns incre­a­sin­gly to the ima­ge of the lands­ca­pe pro­jec­ted onto this surfa­ce and to the illuso­ry per­for­mer who demon­stra­tes the natu­re of deep spa­ce by run­ning into the dis­tan­ce until he has mer­ged with the lands­ca­pe. Finally, the con­fi­nes of the cine­ma spa­ce are dra­ma­ti­cally reaf­fir­med as the live per­for­mer sli­ces the screen and steps through into the spa­ce that the audien­ce occupies.

“The thought that I might be per­for­ming this work some fif­ty years after it was shot was only a joke back then. This is the first time it has been per­for­med in a (part­ly) rural set­ting.” (GS)

1980 Ireland / 2023 Belgium
Performance ver­si­on, 16mm film on 4x DV pro­jec­tors, c. 30 min
With live music by Philip Masure & Aongus McGalligan

For the fes­ti­val, Guy Sherwin has re-edi­ted and recon­fi­gu­red the ori­gi­nal film across four screens. Each of the screens will show all the shots in the film, but in a dif­fe­rent order; so the com­bi­na­ti­ons keep chan­ging, but the total run­ning length will be the same as the original.

Made on a brief visit to Ireland’s wes­tern regi­on of Connemara in 1980, the film is in some ways a reflec­ti­on on time; time as evi­dent in the lands­ca­pe, in the way the film is orga­ni­sed and as an expe­rien­ce of vie­wing. In the qui­et col­li­si­on of the ima­ges and ambient sounds, pla­ce waits, returns and repe­ats. In res­pon­se, the live musi­cians in the band­stand will play a kind of ele­gy for the regi­on’s long-lost trees who­se stran­ge absen­ce lends this bereft lands­ca­pe a sava­ge beau­ty. Across the band­stand, the park accom­mo­da­tes a sanc­tu­a­ry for weak, old trees and trees in pal­li­a­ti­ve care that are slow­ly dying.

Only shown a few times in the 1980s, Connemara remai­ned unseen for over three deca­des. Originally shot on 16mm, Sherwin’s rare­ly scree­ned film was lovin­gly res­to­red by EYE Institute Amsterdam and Guy Edmunds, thus saving it from oblivion.