George Clark is an artist, curator and writer.
Bridging curatorial and artistic practice, George Clark’s work explores the history of images and how they are governed by culture, technology and social political conditions. His work has been shown at festivals and museums internationally. His multi-part project Double Ghosts held its premiere at Chin Pao San cemetery in Taiwan as part of his project for the 2018 Taiwan Biennial. His feature film A Distant Echo premiered in the official selection at the 20th Jihlava IDFF as part of the Opus Bonum competition. Shot on 35mm film in various Californian deserts, the film explores themes of identity, culture and the construction of history in collaboration with musician Tom Challenger. Over the last decade he has built transnational projects exploring new modes of exchange, collaboration and dialogue. In 2018 he co-founded the West Java West Yorkshire Cooperative Movement with Ismal Muntaha, Bunga Saigian and Will Rose a collaborative project with the Jatiwangi art Factory, Indonesia and Pavilion, UK. This ongoing project has supported new projects with over 20 artists and numerous communities across both regions. The collaboration builds on his exhibition Living Archive (Jatiwangi Art Factory, 2017; Yunseul Museum, 2018), made with over 30 community curators and the collaborative film Jatiwangi (2018).
His short film Sea of Clouds / 雲海 (2016) made in Taiwan is structured around an interview with the artist Chen Chieh-jen and premiered at the BFI London Film Festival 2016. His solo exhibition A Planter’s Art (Soulangh Cultural Park, June-July 2016), drew on outtakes from a government educational film, photographs from a Taiwanese historical wax museum and a new 35mm footage shot in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The new films were installed with a specially grown garden at Soulangh Cultural Park, Tainan.
His ongoing project Eyemo Rolls (2011-2018),that consists of a growing body of over a two hundred 35mm film rolls, has been shown in various configurations 25FPS Festival (Sept 2016), Visions, Montreal (April 2017), BIMI/LUX, London (June 2017), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art / MMCA, Seoul (Sept/Oct 2017), Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (Nov 2017) and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art (Oct 2018).
Prior to this he collaborated with various artists including Luke Fowler on The Poor Stockinger, the Luddite Cropper and the Deluded Followers of Joanna Southcott 2013 and he co-wrote the script for The Future’s Getting Old Like the Rest of Us 2010 with Beatrice Gibson.
His curatorial work is focused on exploring and expanding histories of film and video practice globally. He was assistant curator of film at Tate Modern (2013-2015) where he curated retrospectives of Ute Aurand, Camille Henrot, Mike Kuchar, Luis Ospina and Chick Strand and curated the thematic seasons Throwing Shadows: Japanese Expanded Cinema in the time of Pop (with Julian Ross and Go Hirasawa Jan 2016 Tate Modern & IFFR) L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema (April 2015), Embeddedness: Artist Films and Videos from Korea 1960s to Now (Sept 2015) , Magiciens de la Terre: Reconsidered (April 2014) and Assembly: A Survey of Artist Film and Video in Britain 2008-2013 (Nov 2013-March 2014). He was a member of the advisory board for the BEFF / Bangkok Experimental Film Festival and one of the curators of BEFF 6 (2012), he curated the Lav Diaz focus at the AV Festival (2012) and curated INFERMENTAL for Focal Point Gallery with Dan Kidner & James Richards (2010) and co-edited the book A Detour Around Infermental (2012).
He was associate curator with Circuit Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand in 2016 developing a new series of artists moving image commissions and the exhibition and symposium Phantom Topologies in 2016. He has written various catalogue essays and contributed to publications including Afterall, Art Monthly, Sight and Sound and Senses of Cinema. He has been a jury member at various festivals including DOX LISBOA (2017), 25 FPS Festival (2016), International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (2015), CPH DOX Festival (2013) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2009). He is currently a Lecturer at the School of Art, University of Westminster and visiting lecturer on the MA Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art.
Contact:
george@georgeandclark.com
Twitter @georgeandclark
Instagram @georgeandclark