season one the box tymor un y blwch

dave ball amanda boyle catrin davies & lewis wright sabina grasso laure prouvost christopher webster van tonder

This is the first season in a new programming stream for Aberystwyth Arts Centre, which will beshowing artists’ films daily in a viewing ‘Box’ sited in the main foyer of the Arts Centre. Eachseason features five or six artists, and one artist’s work is shown throughout the day, on arotating basis.

Use of film and video by artists has become very widespread and the moving image is animportant part of recent art history. Artists use the medium in many different ways - to explorenew ways of making still lives, portraits or abstract works; to respond to the landscape orcomment on global events; to consider time, relationships, the taste of toffee or in short just asany other medium is used. As with other art forms, some artists’ films reflects on the particularnature of the film itself.

“(filmic images) ...have taken on a quality which does not belong to the simple photograph of real life. They have becomenot more beautiful in the sense in which pictures are beautiful, but shall we call it (our vocabulary is miserablyinsufficient) more real, or real with a different reality from that which we perceive in daily life?” Virginia Woolf 1926

season one the box tymor un y blwch

July/Gorffennaf 22 - October/Hydref 16 2010

Dyma’r tymor cyntaf mewn rhaglen newydd yng Nghanolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth, a fyddyn dangos ffilmiau gan artistiaid bob dydd yn y ‘Blwch’ gwylio a leolir ym mhrif gyntedd yGanolfan. Bydd pob tymor yn nodweddu pump neu chwech o artistiaid, a dangosir gwaith unartist gydol y dydd, ar sail cylchredol.

Mae defnyddio ffilm a fideo gan artistiaid yn boblogaidd iawn bellach ac mae’r ddelwedd symudolyn rhan bwysig o hanes celf diweddar. Mae artistiaid yn defnyddio’r cyfrwng mewn llawer owahanol ffyrdd - i archwilio ffyrdd newydd o wneud bywyd llonydd, portreadau neu ddarnauhaniaethol; i ymateb i’r dirwedd neu i wneud sylwadau ar ddigwyddiadau byd-eang; i ystyriedamser, perthnasau, blas toffi neu mewn geiriau eraill yn yr un modd ag y defnyddir unrhywgyfrwng arall. Ac fel efo ffurfiau celf eraill, mae rhai o ffilmiau’r artistiaid yn myfyrio ar naturbenodol y cyfrwng.

“(filmic images) ...have taken on a quality which does not belong to the simple photograph of real life. They have becomenot more beautiful in the sense in which pictures are beautiful, but shall we call it (our vocabulary is miserablyinsufficient) more real, or real with a different reality from that which we perceive in daily life?” Virginia Woolf 1926

dave ball amanda boyle catrin davies & lewis wright sabina grasso laure prouvost christopher webster van tonder

Dave BallIn his work, Dave Ball tests social norms and rules, often by making absurd or irrational interventions. He is interested in the wayvarious environments can make different behaviours permissible, and in the use of humour as a potentially subversive element.

Being Somewhere is based around the activity of repeatedly visiting a landscape. The video is divided into eight sections, eachrepresenting a single day. It was initially developed as documentation in blog-form of a series of daily visits to the open countrysidenear Worpswede in north-west Germany. The resulting video charts the progress (or lack of it) of the artist’s attempts to visualise andunderstand the landscape, to find ways of acting within it, and to form coherent thoughts about it. The task of image-making is seen as problematic: the seductive beauty of the landscape remains a constant inspiration, and yetsimultaneously is experienced as nothing more than an absurdly banal diversion. The inconsistency inherent in any response to natureis laid bare; and yet a feeling of the grandeur and sublimity of the natural environment persists. Being Somewhere was produced during a residency at Künstlerhäuser Worpswede, Germany.

Dave Ball was born in Swansea, UK; he now lives and works in Berlin, Germany

Yn ei waith, mae Dave Ball yn rhoi prawf ar normau a rheolau cymdeithasol, yn aml trwy wneud ymyriadau gwirion neu afresymol.Mae’n ymddiddori yn y ffordd y gall gwahanol amgylcheddau ganiatau gwahanol ffyrdd o ymddwyn, ac yn y defnydd o hiwmor fel elfensydd â’r potensial i danseilio.

Mae Being Somewhere wedi’i seilio ar y gweithgaredd o ymweld â thirwedd tro ar ôl tro. Mae’r fideo wedi’i rhannu’n wyth rhan, pobun yn cynrychioli un diwrnod. Fe’i datblygwyd yn wreiddiol fel cofnod ar ffurf blog o gyfres o ymweliadau dyddiol â’r wlad agored gerbwys Worpswede yng ngogledd-orllewin yr Almaen. Mae’r fideo a ddatblygodd yn cofnodi llwyddiant (neu ddiffyg llwyddiant) yr artistyn ei ymdrechion i ddychmygu a deall y dirwedd, i ffeindio ffyrdd o weithredu o fewn y dirwedd, ac i ffurfio syniadau rhesymegol amdani. Gwelir y dasg o greu delweddau fel un anodd: mae harddwch hudol y dirwedd yn parhau i ysbrydoli ac eto ar yr un pryd fe’i gwelir feldim mwy na rhywbeth cyffredin a gwirion. Mae’r anghysondeb sydd wrth wraidd unrhyw ymateb i fyd natur yn cael ei ddatgelu; ac etomae teimlad o urddas a phrydferthwch yr amgylchedd naturiol yn parhau. Cynhyrchwyd Being Somewhere yn ystod cyfnod preswyl yn Künstlerhäuser Worpswede, Yr Almaen.

Ganwyd Dave Ball yn Abertawe; erbyn hyn mae’n byw ac yn gweithio yn Berlin yn Yr Almaen

Being Somewhere (2009) 41 minutes/munud www.daveballartist.co.uk/beingsomewhere

Amanda BoylePop Art is a short film is about the developing friendship between unhappy 12 year old Toby, and new fellow class mate Art - whohappens to be an inflatable boy. Based on a short story by American writer Joe Hill, this film effortlessly moves between the hard realityof everyday life and the surreal world of the imagination. Understated, touching and elegant, the film has deservedly won several awards.

“The prodigiously talented British Filmmaker Amanda Boyle[‘s]...latest unique offering is a 15 minute imaginative meditation on the complexities of friendshipand isolation...with the help of some very clever and disarmingly charming puppetry.” Dazed & Confused 2009“A great little gem of a movie” Bill Ward ‘Film & TV’ 2009

Pop Art (2008) 15 mins 29 secs Director Amanda Boyle Producer Kate Myers & Tracy Brimm; Executive/Co-Producers Mary Richards, BethRichards, Ed Rubin & Rebecca Mark-Lawson; Editor Marguerite Arnold; Screenwriter Amanda Boyle; Director of Photography Nick Gordon Smith;Production Designer Jacqueline Abrahams; Sound Joakim Sundström Principal Cast Bill Milner, George Morgan, Sharon Small, Duncan Clark, MatthewStorey, Andrew Havill & Daniel Ryan. Winner of the Audience award at the Austin Film Festival; winner of Best Narrative Short at the River Run Film Festival;winner of a Special Jury Prize for directing at the Atlanta Film Festival.

Amanda Boyle is a film director, living in London.

Mae’r ffilm fer hon yn adrodd hanes y cyfeillgarwch sy’n datblygu rhwng Toby, bachgen anhapus 12 oed, a ffrind newydd yn ei ddosbarthsef Art - sy’n digwydd bod yn fachgen chwyddadwy. Yn seiliedig ar stori fer gan yr awdur Americanaidd Joe Hill, mae’r ffilm hon yn symudyn ddi-ymdrech rhwng realiti caled bywyd bob dydd a byd swreal y dychymyg. Yn gynnil, yn deimladwy ac yn gain, mae’r ffilm yn llawnhaeddu’r sawl wobr a enillwyd ganddi.

“Mae prosiect unigryw diweddaraf y Ffilmwriag Brydeinig hynod dalentog Amanda Boyle yn cymryd ffurf myfyrdod 15 munud llawn dychymyg argymhlethdodau cyfeillgarwch ac unigrwydd … gyda chymorth ychydig o bypedwaith hynod glyfar ac effeithiol.” Dazed & Confused 2009“Ffilm fach hyfryd tu hwnt” Bill Ward ‘Film & TV’ 2009

Pop Art (2008) 15 munud 29 eiliad Cyfarwyddwraig Amanda Boyle Cynhyrchydd Kate Myers & Tracy Brimm; Cyd-Gynhyrchwyr Mary Richards,Beth Richards, Ed Rubin & Rebecca Mark-Lawson; Golygydd Marguerite Arnold; Sgriptwraig Amanda Boyle; Cyfarwyddwr Ffotograffiaeth Nick GordonSmith; Dylunwraig y Cynhyrchiad Jacqueline Abrahams; Sain Joakim Sundström Prif Gast Bill Milner, George Morgan, Sharon Small, Duncan Clark,Matthew Storey, Andrew Havill & Daniel Ryan. Enillydd gwobr y Gynulleidfa yng Ng^yl Ffilmiau Austin; enillydd Ffilm Fer Naratif Orau yng Ng^yl Ffilmiau RiverRun; enillydd Gwobr Arbennig ar gyfer cyfarwyddo yng Ng^yl Ffilmiau Atlanta.

Mae Amanda Boyle yn gyfarwyddwraig ffilm sy’n byw yn Llundain.

Catrin Davies & Lewis WrightRelationships between men, women and animals are key themes within both of our individual art practices. We often work collaboratively, making abstractnarratives that show an exaggerated, primal, animalistic side of human nature. When we work together, although there is no dialogue, we deal withcommunication and interaction -often between two people- and with the resulting situations.

A Most Strange and True Report (2010) (pictured), and Do You Really Think We’re Serious?’ (2009), reference the narratives found within paintinghistory, containing many references to both classic and modern painting. In ‘A Most Strange And True Report’ we explore ideas surrounding the passageof time. It conjures up ideas associated with classic still life painting, especially stillness and symbolism. The video gradually pans out to the ‘bigger picture’-the nest at the front representing new life and the antlers with the exposed skull representing its inevitable opposite- death. This work is a departure fromprevious films, as it doesn’t include us.Recent projects have become more ambitious, using the natural landscape as a dramatic backdrop for the videos. The old game of power is re-visited inTug Of Life (2010), where we are exploring the idea of unseen tension, and the idea that we both rely on each other, yet sometimes struggle because ofthis. It deals with temptation, love, conflict and sexuality; the battle for power is a key theme, looking at human nature’s need to control.

The artists Catrin Davies and Lewis Wright are based in Cardiff.

Y berthynas rhwng dynion, merched ac anifeiliaid yw’r prif themâu o fewn ymarfer celf unigol y ddau ohonom. ‘Rydym yn aml yn cydweithio â’n gilydd, yncreu naratif haniaethol sy’n dangos ochr ormodol, gyntefig, anifeilaidd y natur ddynol. Pan ‘rydym yn gweithio gyda’n gilydd, er nad oes unrhyw ddialog,‘rydym yn delio gyda chyfathrebu a rhyngweithio - yn aml rhwng dau berson - a gyda’r sefyllfaoedd sy’n digwydd yn sgil hynny.

Mae A Most Strange and True Report (2010) a Do You Really Think We’re Serious? (2009) yn cyfeirio at y naratif a welir o fewn hanes paentio, gangynnwys llawer o gyfeiriadau at baentio clasurol a modern. Yn A Most Strange And True Report ‘rydym yn archwilio syniadau sy’n cwmpasu amser ynmynd heibio. Ceir syniadau sy’n gysylltiedig â phaentio bywyd llonydd clasurol, yn arbennig llonyddwch a symboliaeth. Mae’r fideo’n agor allan yn raddoli greu’r ‘darlun mwy’ - y nyth yn y blaen yn cynrychioli bywyd newydd a’r cyrn gyda’r benglog noeth yn cynrychioli’r gwrthwyneb - marwolaeth. Mae’r gwaithhwn yn wahanol i’n ffilmiau blaenorol gan nad ydyw’n cynnwys ni. Bu’n prosiectau diweddaraf yn fwy uchelgeisiol, gan ddefnyddio’r dirwedd naturiol fel cefndir dramatig. Mae’r hen gêm o frwydro am bwer yn ail ymddangosyn Tug Of Life (2010), lle ‘rydym yn archwilio’r syniad o densiwn nas gwelir, a’r syniad ein bod ni’n dau yn dibynnu ar ein gilydd, ac eto’n stryglo weithiauoherwydd hyn. Mae’n delio gyda themtasiwn, serch, rhyfel a rhywioldeb; y frwydr i ennill pwer yw’r brif thema, yn edrych ar angen y natur ddynol i reoli.

Mae’r artistiaid Catrin Davies a Lewis Wright â’u stiwdio yng Nghaerdydd.

Sabina GrassoMidnight Candy is a flower which releases its tropical perfume after sunset. Sabina Grasso has set the four videos in this suite of work around the time ofsunset, to give an intimate and poetic connection between the subjects and their environment.

Loana (2009) (pictured) was conceived and made in São Paulo. “The colossal body of the women’s fitness champion, as colossal as this city of Brazil, is myrepresentation of a capital too endless to be captured from the top of an Avenida Paulista’s skyscraper.” Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil 2009; LoanaMuttoni (World Fitness Champion 2005)Angelika (2009) “...comes from the inspiration given to me by the city of Berlin, where I am now living. A female juggler who, thanks to the slow movementsof her job, shows her view of the German artistic capital in her crystal ball…” Warschauer Straße, Berlin, Germany 2009 Angelika Jost (Acrobat Juggler)Ablo (2009) “Griot musician, native to Burkina Faso, he is living for years in Milan; he sang on the characteristic place called Monte Stella in Milan, a songhe wrote and dedicated to his family and his land.” Monte Stella, Milan, Italy 2009 Ablo (Griot Musician)Jian (2010) “Chongqing is the biggest city of China. Every night after dinner, common people dance or play Tai Chi all together in the public square. I askedJian to show me Tai Chi in a land between Huangjueping and Jiefang Bei.’

Sabina Grasso was born in Geneva; she lives and works in Berlin.

Mae Midnight Candy yn flodyn sy’n rhyddhau ei phersawr trofannol ar ôl machlud yr haul. Mae Sabina Grasso wedi gosod y pedair fideo yn y casgliad hwn ogwmpas amser machlud yr haul, er mwyn creu cysylltiad personol a mydryddol rhwng y gwrthrychau a’u hamgylchedd.

Loana (2009) Gwnaethpwyd y darn hwn yn São Paulo. “Corff anferth Campwraig Ffitrwydd y Byd, mor fawr â dinas Brasil, yw fy ffordd i o gynrychioli prifddinassy’n rhy ddi-ddiwedd i’w dal o dop un o adeiladau uchaf Avenida Paulista.” Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, Brasil 2009; Loana Muttoni (World Fitness Champion 2005)Angelika (2009) “...daw’r darn hwn o’r ysbrydoliaeth a roddir i mi gan ddinas Berlin, lle ‘rwy’n byw ar hyn o bryd. Jyglwraig sydd, yn sgil symudiadau araf eigwaith, yn dangos ei dehongliad o brifddinas artistig yr Almaen yn ei phêl grisial…” Warschauer Straße, Berlin, Yr Almaen 2009 Angelika Jost (Acrobat Juggler)Ablo (2009) “Cerddor Griot, yn hanu o Burkina Faso, sydd wedi byw ers blynyddoed ym Milan; bu’n canu yn y lle nodweddiadol a elwir Monte Stella ymMilan, cân a ysgrifennodd ac a gysegrodd i’w deulu a’i wlad.” Monte Stella, Milan, Yr Eidal 2009 Ablo (Griot Musician)Jian (2010) “Chongqing yw’r ddinas fwyaf yn Tsieina. Pob nos ar ôl cinio mae pobl gyffredin yn dawnsio neu’n chwarae Tai Chi gyda’i gilydd yn y sgwârgyhoeddus. Gofynnais i Jian i ddangos Tai Chi i mi mewn gwlad rhwng Huangjueping a Jiefang Bei.”

Ganwyd Sabina Grasso yn Geneva; mae hi’n byw ac yn gweithio yn Berlin.

Laure Prouvost Laure Prouvost makes playfully surreal films, often collaging fast paced images with text, within a narrative structure. Owt is a video of a self-proclaimed ‘curator of artists’ video works’ who explains what he sees as the role and function of video art. The narration howeveris almost incomprehensible, having been spliced and jumbled. The film shows apparently illogical sequences of farm animals and swimmers, while thesub titles belie the voiceover: ‘How can any film be an artwork, and how can any film not be an artwork?’ comes out as ‘How may feeling a cow canalways be in? Why he never felt like that when he kissed Madonna, even at work?’The fast moving pace of the film baffles the viewer at first, who catches tantalising fragments while trying to make sense of the whole; repeated viewingsreveal more, and understanding shifts. “I use subtitles and translation a lot - not from language to language but between mediums, like from word to sound.Maybe because French is my first language I’ve experienced quite a lot of misunderstandings with words, but perhaps that’s also where the playful, surrealelements come from.” Joyfully anarchic, the work has the quality of a hectic dream.

OWT 3 minutes, UK, 2007. Courtesy Laure Prouvost and LUX, London

Laure Prouvost is an artist and director of online video gallery Tank.tv. She works from a studio in Hackney, London. She is represented by LUX.

Mae Laure Prouvost yn cynhyrchu ffilmiau swreal chwareus, yn aml yn cyfuno delweddau cyflym gyda thestun, o fewn strwythur naratif. Mae Owt yn waith fideo gan un a ystyrir ei hun i fod yn ‘guradur gwaith fideo’r artistiaid’ , sy’n egluro beth yw rôl a phwrpas celf fideoyn ei farn ef. Mae’r traethiad fodd bynnag bron yn amhosibl ei ddeall, gan iddo gael ei sbleisio a’i gymysgu. Mae’r ffilm yn dangoslluniau gwbl di-drefn o anifeiliaid ffarm a nofwyr, tra bod yr is-deitlau’n gwrth-ddweud y llais drosodd: Mae’r geiriau ‘Sut gall unrhywffilm fod yn waith celf, a sut gall unrhyw ffilm beidio â bod yn waith celf?’ yn dod allan fel geiriau nad ydynt yn gwneud unrhyw synnwyr.Mae cyflymder y ffilm yn drysu’r gwyliwr yn llwyr i ddechrau, gan iddo gael cip yn unig ar ddarnau bach tra’n ceisio gwneud synnwyro’r cyfan; wrth ei gwylio eto, mae rhagor yn cael ei ddatgelu ac mae lefel y ddealltwriaeth yn cynyddu. “Rwy’n gwneud llawer o ddefnyddo is-deitlau a chyfieithu - nid o iaith i iaith ond rhwng cyfryngau, megis o eiriau i sain. Efallai oherwydd mai Ffrangeg yw fy iaith gyntaf‘rwyf wedi dod ar draws llawer o gamddealltwriaethau gyda geiriau, ac efallai hefyd o’r fan honno y mae’r elfennau chwareus, swrealyn deillio.” Yn llawen anarchaidd, mae gan y gwaith ryw deimlad o freuddwyd hectig.

OWT 3 munud, DU, 2007. Trwy gwrteisi Laure Prouvost a LUX, Llundain

Mae Laure Prouvost yn artist ac yn gyfarwyddwraig yr oriel fideo ar-lein Tank.tv. Mae’n gweithio mewn stiwdio yn Hackney, Llundain.Mae’n cael ei chynrychioli gan LUX.

Christopher Webster Van TonderChristopher Webster van Tonder is best known for his work with photographic images; he has recently begun experimenting with the moving image:“My film work is derived from experiments centred on found images and staged constructions. Through this work I am curating the lost,the historical detritus of a mass-produced medium. The exploration of these found images is an encounter with the processes of amedium that has now evolved technologically, where silver technologies and the attendant associations with light, time and the referent,are changing. These physical analogue traces are fading and are being replaced by the digital determinism of a new cyber-age. But theconstructs I make are a process of reassessing the value of such analogue ephemera, time ghosts, light-laden silver debris. Each reelof film is carefully pieced together, drawn upon, painted frame by frame and then edited. The resultant images are constructed spaceswhere the purpose is to create a dialogue with the unconscious and its associated relationship with the mysterious. “

Pearl manipulated 16mm film, 4 minutes 48.12 seconds, 2008Freya (pictured) manipulated 16mm film, 4 minutes 7.14 seconds, 2009

Christopher Webster van Tonder is an artist, and art lecturer at Aberystwyth University. He lives in Wales.

Mae Christopher Webster van Tonder yn fwyaf adnabyddus am ei waith gyda delweddau ffotograffig; yn ddiweddar mae wedi dechrauarbrofi gyda’r ddelwedd symudol:“Mae fy ngwaith ffilm yn deillio o arbrofion sy’n seiliedig ar ddelweddau gwrthrychol a strwythurau penodol. Trwy’r gwaith hwn ‘rwyf yncuradu’r hyn a gollwyd, gweddillion hanesyddol cyfrwng a gynhyrchwyd ar raddfa enfawr. Mae archwilio’r delweddau hyn yn golyguwynebu prosesau cyfrwng sydd wedi datblygu’n dechnolegol bellach, lle mae technoleg arian a’r cysylltiadau â golau, amser a’r cyfeirair,yn newid. Mae’r olion analog corfforol hyn yn raddol diflannu ac yn eu lle daw pendantrwydd digidol yr oes cyber newydd. Ond mae fyngwaith yn ymwneud â phroses o ailasesu gwerth gweddillion analog o’r math, ysbrydion amser, olion arian a oleuir. Mae darnau pob rîlo ffilm yn cael eu gosod yn ofalus at ei gilydd, ‘rwy’n arlunio arnynt, yn eu paentio mesul ffrâm ac wedyn yn eu golygu. Y delweddau agyflawnir ar y diwedd yw strwythurau penodol lle mai’r pwrpas yw i greu dialog gyda’r anymwybodol a’i berthynas gysylltiedig gyda’r dirgel.”

Ffilm 16mm Pearl manipulated, 4 munud 48.12 eiliad, 2008Ffilm 16mm Freya manipulated, 4 munud 7.14 eiliad, 2009

Mae Christopher Webster van Tonder yn artist ac yn ddarlithydd celf ym Mhrifysgol Aberystwyth. Mae’n byw yng Nghymru.

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