George Clark – Page 2

Speaking Nearby: Playing The Archive, Open City Documentary Festival, 10 September 2022

SPEAKING NEARBY: PLAYING THE ARCHIVE
10 September 2022
Open City Documentary Festival, London
Workshop with George Clark, Linh Hà and the An Viet Foundation archive

A speaking that does not objectify, does not point to an object as if it is distant from the speaking subject or absent from the speaking place. A speaking that reflects on itself and can come very close to a subject without, however, seizing or claiming it.
– Trinh T. Minh-ha, “Speaking Nearby”, Visual Anthropology Review, Spring 1992

Speaking Nearby aims to explore experimental ways of work and play with artists and archives. Rooted in an expanded idea of “archives”, Speaking Nearby draws on Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s concept in order to explore the means of articulating memories from the personal to collective and proposing new ways to care for history. The workshop – following first in Hanoi, 25 June 2022 – is part of a long-term project developed through a growing circle of artists building bridges between different collections and communities to propose new and experimental approaches to archival and cinematic imaginaries. 

Initiated by London based artist George Clark, the project seeks to explore two distinct collections: the Vietnam Film Institute (VFI) in Hanoi and the An Viet Foundation (AVF) in Hackney, which holds the largest known collection related to the Vietnamese-British community in the UK. This session will include a deep listening workshop led by musician Linh Hà, screening of work-in-progress films made by George Clark and contribution from cultural producer and community activist Cường Phạm on the emerging An Viet Foundation archive. Together we will explore ways of playing with the archive – with a focus on notions of sound, collaboration and resonance – through which we can begin to speak with these complex histories, institutions and archival objects.

Speaking Nearby: Playing The Archive, Á Space, Hanoi, 25 June 2022

SPEAKING NEARBY: PLAYING THE ARCHIVE / NÓI LÂN CẬN: NGHỊCH ĐÙA VỚI LƯU TRỮ

4-7pm, 25 June 2022, Á Space, Hanoi
https://aea.space/en/event/speaking-nearby-a-workshop-with-linh-ha-thu-uyen-george-clark/

Workshop with l ặ n g session by Linh Hà, poetry reading by Thu Uyên and film George Clark and Tạ Minh Đức

A speaking that does not objectify, does not point to an object as if it is distant from the speaking subject or absent from the speaking place. A speaking that reflects on itself and can come very close to a subject without, however, seizing or claiming it.- Trinh T. Minh-ha, “Speaking Nearby”, 1992

l ặ n g session led by Linh Hà, Á Space, Hanoi. Photo by Thảo Hoàng

Responding to the concept of pioneering artist Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Speaking Nearby aims to explore experimental ways of work and play with artists and archives. Rooted in an expanded idea of ‘archives’, we will explore means of articulating memories from the personal to collective in the process proposing new ways to care for history and activate diverse collections. The artists are brought together through a shared approach to archives as departure points; sites for interrogation into different times and spaces, zones for artistic intervention and activation.

This first workshop at Á Space on 25 June is an opportunity to share some of the impressions and transmissions from the ongoing work with the Vietnam Film Archive over the last year, as well as the methodologies for working with diverse collections in other projects. This will include a lặng session led by musician Linh Hà, poetry reading by Thu Uyên and screening of work-in-progress film made by George Clark and Tạ Minh Đức.

Speaking Nearby, Á Space, Hanoi. Photo by Thảo Hoàng

SCHEDULE:

4.00–4.10pm: Welcome and introduce schedule
4.10–5.30pm: l ặ n g* Workshop with Linh Hà
5.30–5.45pm: INTERVAL
5.45–6.15pm: Thu Uyên reading of poems and discuss research/work in progress (extract of films which inspired found poems to be shown alongside)
6.15–6.45pm: George Clark sharing about ‘Handle With Care’ project background and context with examples from other works and archival explorations
6.45–7.00pm: Group discussion with Linh Hà, Uyên and George

*l ặ n g is a safe space where you’re invited to explore deep listening and creativity. It can be a collective and individual journey, to tap into being attentive to the sonic world around oneself, one’s body and one’s well-being. With l ặ n g you can emerge yourself in different body movement activities, breath work, vocal toning (here people can activate their voices/vocal chords) and listening activities. A l ặ n g session can take up to 1-1.5 hours – with a tea and sweet session at the end where everyone can unwind and discuss what they just experienced.

Poetry reading by Thu Uyên, Á Space, Hanoi. Photo by Thảo Hoàng

Thanks to Á Space and Vân Đỗ for collaborating with us on this and to Hải Lê for design, Thảo Hoàng for photography, Hương Mi Lê for translation and Nguyen Thanh Tam for co-ordinating the event.

The project is supported FAMLAB (Film, Archives and Music Lab) Fund as part of British Council’s Heritage of Future Past project in Viet Nam, TPD Centre for the Development of Movie Talents and CREAM/University of Westminster.

NÓI LÂN CẬN: NGHỊCH ĐÙA VỚI LƯU TRỮ

Một sự nói không cụ thể hoá, không hướng vào đối tượng như thể nó ly tán khỏi chủ thể nói hay vắng mặt khỏi nơi nói. Một sự nói tự phản chiếu và có thể đến rất gần với một chủ thể mà, tuy nhiên, không cần khẳng định hay chiếm đoạt nó.
— Trinh T. Minh-ha, “Speaking Nearby”, Visual Anthropology Review, Xuân 1992.

“Phản hồi với ý niệm của nghệ sĩ Trịnh T. Minh-Ha, ‘Nói Lân Cận’ mong muốn khảo sát và thử nghiệm các cách thức khác nhau để làm việc và chơi đùa với các kho lưu trữ cùng các nghệ sĩ. Bắt nguồn từ một ý tưởng mở rộng về ‘kho lưu trữ’, ‘Nói Lân Cận’ sẽ khám phá các phương tiện kết nối những ký ức từ cá nhân đến tập thể trong quá trình đề xuất các cách thức mới để chăm sóc lịch sử và kích hoạt các bộ sưu tập đa dạng. Các nghệ sĩ được gắn kết với nhau thông qua việc tiếp cận một số các tài liệu lưu trữ như là điểm xuất phát; các địa điểm thẩm vấn các thời gian và không gian khác nhau, các khu vực can thiệp và kích hoạt nghệ thuật đa dạng. “Lưu trữ” đối với chúng tôi không bị giới hạn ở các hạng mục hữu hình, có thể sưu tầm, tĩnh, mà đúng hơn, được hiểu là những vật chứa ký ức dễ vỡ, truyền miệng, bị phân mảnh, khó nắm bắt.”

Á Space thân mời bạn tới phiên workshop đầu tiên trong chuỗi chương trình ‘Speaking Nearby’ (tạm dịch: Nói Lân Cận), do George Clark, hiện sống và làm việc tại Luân Đôn, Anh, khởi xướng. Đây là một phần của dự án ‘Handle With Care’ nhằm khám phá những cách làm việc khác nhau với lưu trữ, đặc biệt là với hai kho lưu trữ tại Viện Phim Việt Nam và Quỹ An Việt. Dự án đã được phát triển thông qua một mạng lưới bạn bè nhằm xây dựng những cầu nối giữa các bộ sưu tập và các cộng đồng khác nhau nhằm đề xuất các cách tiếp cận mới và có tính thử nghiệm hơn với những vùng tưởng tượng có tính lưu trữ và điện ảnh.

Do ảnh hưởng bởi COVID-19 và hạn chế di chuyển, George đã không thể trực tiếp tiếp cận kho lưu trữ tại Viện Phim Việt Nam, và vì vậy, đã mời một số người thực hành tại Việt Nam từ đa dạng lĩnh vực, gồm Linh Hà (nhạc sĩ), Thu Uyên (nhà thơ), Tạ Minh Đức (nhà làm phim), Red và Lâm Duy Phương (trình diễn), Vân Đỗ (giám tuyển), thay mặt anh khảo sát và thực hiện các “nghiên cứu” tại Viện Phim để sau đó chia sẻ các ấn tượng và câu chuyện với anh. Song song với đó, George Clark đã và đang làm việc với bộ sưu tập của Quỹ An Việt tại Luân Đôn trong ban chỉ đạo do tình nguyện viên điều hành, nhằm hỗ trợ các công tác bảo tồn và tái tạo kho lưu trữ của Quỹ An Việt, hay là bộ sưu tập lớn nhất của cộng đồng người Anh gốc Việt tại Anh Quốc hiện đang do Hackney Archives bảo quản.

Phiên workshop đầu tiên tại Á Space sẽ chia sẻ thành quả bước đầu của dự án, bao gồm: một workshop ‘l ặ n g’ của Linh Hà, một vài tiếng thơ đọc của Thu Uyên và một số phim đang trong quá trình hoàn thiện của George Clark và Tạ Minh Đức. Đây cũng là một cơ hội để chia sẻ một số ấn tượng với các tác phẩm bắt gặp trong kho lưu trữ cũng như các phương pháp làm việc với các kho lưu trữ mà dự án đã và đang thử nghiệm.

Phiên workshop này xoay quanh âm thanh, trình diễn, âm hưởng và phát thanh, đồng thời, nghịch quanh những quan niệm khác nhau và các vết tích lưu trữ để lại, nhằm khám phá tầng tầng lớp lớp lịch sử, các thể chế và phạm vi mở rộng của các những vật mang tính lưu trữ. Chương trình này sẽ được tiếp tục với một trình diễn mở rộng dự kiến diễn ra vào mùa thu.

2022 – Casual Encounters: The Untroubled Mind and Nervous Translation (ICA, April 2022)

‘Casual Encounters: The Untroubled Mind and Nervous Translation’
By George Clark

Text to accompany screening as part of The Machine That Kills Bad People, 6 April 2022 at ICA, London.

2022 Casual Encounters by George Clark Download

Double Ghosts featured in What Remains 11 April-22 May 2022

WHAT REMAINS
http://www.videoclub.org.uk/what-remains
11 April – 22 May 2022
With: Seecum Cheung, George Clark, Onyeka Igwe, Bahar Noorizadeh, Josèfa Ntjam, Naïmé Perrette, Mamali Shafahi, Oraib Toukan, Geo Wyeth
Curated by Mehraneh Atashi and Tabitha Steinberg
Text by Mahan Moalemi

My film Double Ghosts shows in Part 1: Traces alongside Onyeka Igwe’s No Archive Can Restore You and Oraib Toukan’s Place of the Slave from 11 April – 24 April 2022

What Remains is an online film and events programme curated by Mehraneh Atashi and Tabitha Steinberg for moving image platform, videoclub from 11 April to 22 May 2022. The programme showcases nine artists using moving image to explore collapsing relationships between history, documentary, fiction and reality.

What Remains is divided into three sections – Traces, Closeness and Forwards. Each section includes three films available for two weeks over the programme’s six weeks. Traces features artists exploring archival material to reflect on and re-imagine historical remnants. Closeness features artists exploring their own personal, familial and genealogical histories. Forwards features artists examining how technology has affected the way we view and engage with history and reality today. Although following a loosely methodical structure, What Remains explores the relationship between its sections to reflect its own inquiries into expanded notions of history.

The programme brings together artists of varying backgrounds, identities and artistic concerns, following the artists’ own investigations into multi-narrative stories and cross-linear timelines. This foregrounds connections between disparate methodologies and geographies in new and transformative ways.

Casual Encounters: The Untroubled Mind and Nervous Translation, essay for screening 6 April, ICA London

Casual Encounters: The Untroubled Mind and Nervous Translation
6 April 2022
ICA, London

Commissioned essay on pairing of Manon de Boer’s The Untroubled Mind (2016) and Shireen Seno’s Nervous Translation (2018) as part of The Machine That Kills Bad People film club at ICA, London to accompany screening 6 April 2022.

Set in the Philippines in the late 1980s, not long after the People Power Revolution that led to the fall of President Marcos, Shireen Seno’s second feature Nervous Translation evokes the uncertainty and precarity of those years through the eyes of its shy eight-year-old protagonist. Yael cooks meals on her miniature kitchen set, watches soap operas on television with her mother and obsessively listens to cassette tapes recorded by her father, a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia. At once playful and sad, Nervous Translation is above all concerned with what it feels like to be a child.

Manon de Boer’s The Untroubled Mind is a collection of images of constructions of the artists’ son filmed over a period of three years. The duration of each shot is around 20 seconds, the length of time you can film with a Bolex 16 mm camera when winding it manually.

The Machine That Kills Bad People is held bi-monthly in the ICA Cinema and is programmed by Erika Balsom, Beatrice Gibson, Maria Palacios Cruz and Ben Rivers.

You can read the essay Casual Encounters: The Untroubled Mind and Nervous Translation.

Major of Hackney visit to the An Viet Foundation archive project

Major of Hackney visit to the An Viet Foundation archive project
Hackney Archives, London, 11 February 2022

In February 2022 the Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, visited the An Viet Foundation archive, the largest known collection of British-Vietnamese historical documents, currently stored at Hackney Archives. The visit was arranged to discuss the work being carried out by a team of local heritage specialists, including archivists, conservators and volunteers, to preserve the records co-ordinated by Hackney Archives and the An Viet Foundation steering committee of which I am a member.

I am delighted to be able to personally support this vital project. Seeing for myself the great work being done by the team of archivists, conservators and volunteers at Hackney Archives was so powerful and their work in preserving this important collection is crucial to ensuring we remember the long contribution of the Chinese, Vietnamese and other South East Asian communities to the borough and its economic and cultural life. It also helps us tell the stories of our proud and diverse migrant history so that we can cherish them for future generations in Hackney. It is a reminder to us all of the deep challenges many communities faced as they built their home here. We’re grateful for this fund which will help us work with the community to stop the loss of this valuable heritage, keeping these chapters of our past safe and accessible to everyone. – Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville

The visit and discussion were documented as part of long-term film project Handle With Care exploring issues of the invisible labour around two distinct archives, the An Viet Foundation in Hackney and the Vietnam Film Institute in Hanoi supported by British Council’s Heritage of Future Part project in Vietnam and TPD Centre for the Development of Movie Talents. This archival show-and-tell was arranged by the Hackney Archives (Etienne Joseph and Diana Le) and the An Viet Foundation steering group (Tamsin Barber, Jabez Lam, Kim Lau, Cường Phạm, Georgina Quach, Vicky Sung, Moi Tran, Toan Vu). Thanks to the archive staff, National Conservation Centre, volunteers and fellow members of the steering group.

An Viet Foundation, Major of Hackney visit, 11 Feb 2022

Further details on the ongoing work to preserve this invaluable collection can be found here Brighter Future Ahead for the An Viet Foundation Archives .

New writing as part of ‘Noguchi: Resonances’ project at the Barbican

New writing as part of ‘Noguchi: Resonances’ project at the Barbican
Oct 2021-Jan 2022

Developed by independent curator and researcher Annie Jael Kwan as part of a digital residency at the Barbican, Noguchi: Resonances is a collaborative exploration in response to Noguchi, an exhibition celebrating Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988).

From October to December, Annie Jael Kwan has invited artists, curators, and thinkers from across the UK and Global Asias to reflect together on the themes related to Noguchi’s artistic legacy, transnational lived experiences, and his voluntary internment at Poston in solidarity with Japanese Americans that were forcibly relocated and incarcerated during World War II in the USA.

Featuring contributions by Yarli Allison, Alexandra Chang, Youngsook Choi, Chong Li-Chuan, George Clark, Rei Hayama, Marci Kwon, Adriel Luis, Ming Tiampo, Mika Maruyama and Nine Yamamoto-Masson.

For my contribution to the December displatches I wrote a new letter to Annie Jeal Kwan, Yarli Allison and Youngsook Choi as well as initiating a new path of correspondence with LA based artist Margaret Honda. The collected letters can be read here: https://sites.barbican.org.uk/noguchi-resonances-december-despatch/#_ftn1

Mure Shikoku, Japan, 1960 – 1988. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 07508 ©INFGM / ARS - DACS — Isamu Noguchi, Mure Shikoku, Japan, 1960 – 1988. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 07508 ©INFGM / ARS – DACS

Sift, 1992, 92.17a-c, 2013 Reconfigured sculpture: melted steel, copper, brass, stainless steel5 elements: 3 x 3 x 13-1/2" to 5 x 3 x 13-3/4"Collection Long Beach Museum of Art, Photo credit: Yongho Kim — Margaret Honda, Sift, 1992, 92.17a-c, 2013 Reconfigured sculpture: melted steel, copper, brass, stainless steel 5 elements: 3 x 3 x 13-1/2″ to 5 x 3 x 13-3/4″Collection Long Beach Museum of Art, Photo credit: Yongho Kim

Sea of Clouds featured in exhibition A Hidden Whisper at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts

A Hidden Whisper/隱曖喃喃
Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
Exhibition date: 2021.11.26~2022.02.06

https://kdmofa.tnua.edu.tw/

My film Sea of Clouds/雲海 (2016) is featuring in the exhibition ‘A Hidden Whisper/隱曖喃喃’ at the at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition brings together moving image works by eleven past residency artists at the museum. Chinese subtitled version of Sea of Clouds is available to view online.

Participate Artists

Marta Roberti (Italy)

Wojciech Gilewicz (Poland)

George Clark (United Kingdom)

于吉 / Yu Ji (China)

鄧國騫 / Tang Kwok-Hin (Hong Kong)

Jeamin Cha (Korea)

Soh Boram (Korea)

Mitsunori Sakano (Japan)

Soichiro Mihara (Japan)

KBT (Australia)

Drew Pettifer (Australia)

Reconstructing the Archive – TPD workshop, Hanoi

Reconstructing the Archive

Workshop with TPD, Hanoi

September 2021

As part of the ongoing project Handle With Care, this series of workshops for TPD curatorial group in Hanoi, explored expanded concept of archive supporting ongoing research and curatorial projects with Vietnam Film Institute devised with curators Trần Duy Hưng and Truong Que Chi.

Workshop 1: Reconstructing the archive part
This session will explore ways archives can be approached and explored to reveal their underlying structures – building on work of essay filmmakers we will explore models of critical engagement to explore the historical function of the archive and ways it can be creatively reimagined and reconstructed.

Workshop 2: Reconstructing the archive part
Following our opening discussion this workshop will be focused on creative ways we can reconstruct and reconsider the archive. The workshop will be structured around the experiences of FC1curatorial participants who will be invited to bring and share materials and reflections from their initial time in the archive – looking at materials from their research, life and memories to explore the entanglement of the archive with their own impressions, feelings, dreams and futures.

These workshops are part of ongoing curatorial programme building new curatorial models for archival film in Vietnam. The first workshop I did with students was Neither For Nor Against in January 2020 and following by Moving Image Ecology Workshop in September 2021. These workshops are part of longer course run by Trần Duy Hưng and Truong Que Chi over 2020 and 2021 that have informed and fed into Handle With Care project.

Supported by British Council Vietnam, and supported by Hải Anh and Nguyen Hoang Phuong from TPD.

Mother Bank Band open Biennale Jogja, October 2021

Mother Bank Band open Biennale Jogja, October 2021
6 October – 14 November 2021

Mother Bank was presented at the Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 including debut performance of the Mother Bank Band on the opening night of the Biennale on 6 October 2021. Mother Bank is the latest collaboration of Badan Kajian Pertanahan / Land Affair Study Agency and West Java West Yorkshire Cooperative Movement.

Members of the Mother Bank worked with musicians from Jatiwangi art Factory to write and create songs inspired by their everyday lives. All songs were performed by members of the Mother Bank who worked over 5 moths developing the songs while working their day jobs as tile factories workers, truck drivers, street food vendors and housewives. The performance was part of presentation organised by the Land Study Agency including an installation and investment presentation of the Mother Bank at the Jogja National Museum.

Mother Bank at Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6, installation view at National Museum of Jogja, 6 Oct - 14 Nov 2021. — Mother Bank at Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6, installation view at National Museum of Jogja, 6 Oct – 14 Nov 2021.

Read account of the performance here:
https://biennalejogja.org/2021/en/mother-bank-band-music-without-bank-interest-and-instalments/