KVIKMYNDASAFN ÍSLANDS Island á filmu from 1920-50
Snapshots from everyday life of children in Reykjavík from the years 1946-1952 from the Icelandic Film Archive.
BIRTHDAY PARTY 1947 2.00 MIN. From the film Reykjavík vorra daga by Óskar Gíslason.
Little Oscar blows out the candles and the children enjoy cake and hot chocolate. The reel is from the family archive of photographer and filmmaker Óskar Gíslason.
LIGHT BATHS AND BUBBLES 1946 2.08 MIN. From the film Reykjavík vorra daga by Óskar Gíslason.
In the middle of the last century, attention was paid to children's public health with regular medical examinations, vaccinations and by sending groups of schoolchildren to bathe in UV light.
ANIMALS AND CHILDREN IN LAUGARDALUR 1952, 1.50 MIN. Reel by Hannes Pálsson.
In the middle of the last century, there were still farms and fields in Reykjavík where children could interact with farm animals in the city. Gees and sheep are seen taking care of their young.
Astrology of a Friday
byTeresa Cos I 11,11 min
The film was shot in the General Assembly Room of the Province of Limburg’s Government Building,where on the 7th of February 1992 the signing ceremony of the Treaty on European Union (theMaastricht Treaty) took place. Whilst the lights of the eighteen pointed star ceiling perform achoreography that goes in and out of sync with the soundtrack, as it grows from a quiet voicewhispering the anthem of Europe to an orchestra of sounds birthing the Union, we hear a non-European voice reading the preamble of the Treaty. The clock-wise and anti clock-wise movement ofthe ceiling and the psychedelic tones of the music hold the tension of something that couldsimultaneously be the memory of a past as well as a vision of the future.
Topologic
byCel Crabeels I 10 min
We see a man in a three-piece suit standing against an equally grey background. Everything exudesthe pedestrian, to such an extent that it looks as if there is nothing to be seen. But then the manbegins to make rather extraordinary movements and even later it becomes clear that he is attemptingto take off the waistcoat without taking off his jacket. After a long struggle he eventually succeeds indoing this marvelously by applying the same agility that women come up with when they want to takeof their bra without having to take of all of their clothes.
Slave Unit
byCel Crabeels I 6,10 min
’Slave unit’ is a notion which indicates the status of network equipment. In photography it denotes thepower of flash installations; a distinction is always made between dominant and subjected. In thevideo by Cel Crabeels the idea is applied to a setting with two dancers, a director, the camera, videoequipment, the stage and the audience. The work constitutes a cross-over between a danceperformance, a photoscope and a video installation. A man and a woman photograph each other in turns, precisely when the camera’s ‘slave unit’ flashes.The photographer/ hunter turns into a model/ slave and vice versa. Simultaneously the image literallyturns around as well, building on the principle of reversibility. On various levels the work commentsthe individual in his mediatized environment.