Stephen Dwoskin

Wed 6 May – Sun 28 June

To coincide with the Stephen Dwoskin season taking place at BFI Southbank in May, we are showing three recent works by the experimental filmmaker in the Atrium, taking his work out of the cinema context and into the realm of the visual arts.  Please note, we are no longer screening Dream House as mentioned in the May Guide.

ASCOLTA! (2008) was made as part of a special tribute organised by the Lucca Film Festival for the 150th birthday of Giacomo Puccini who was born in the Italian town. The film is based on the aria 'Signore, ascolta' from Puccini’s opera 'Turandot'. Showing the face of a woman seemingly in distress, the work refers to the opera, but is also closely linked to Dwoskin's oeuvre of sensual and emotionally charged films. Phone Portrait (2008) and Phone Strip (2008) were both originally made for and shown at the Centre Pomidou, Paris for the Pocket Film Festival, which is dedicated to moving image works made with mobile phones. Produced like sketches, these two works explore the moving image through the uniqueness of mobile phone technology which produces a near primitive and raw imagery reminiscent of the very first moving images. At the same time, the rawness of the digital ‘pixel’ enhances the image with the feeling and refinement corresponding to a painting in motion.