A Prior magazine / Contour Biennale Catalogue

Hidden in Remembrance is the Silent Memory of our Future
Contour 2009, 4th biennial of Moving Image

Published and distributed by A prior

The publication accompanying Contour 2009—the 4th biennial of moving image, with essays by Katarina Gregos and Marc Gloede.

Africa Reflected, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam

At the beginning of 2009 the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA) team started a research project under the title ‘Africa Reflected’. This project looks closely at representations of Africa within contemporary art production, with the aim of finding alternatives to predominantly stereotypical mass media representations. The research is designed to arrive at a critical discourse: it is after all about how our images of Africa are shaped, and how we seek to nuance this with the support of visual art, and not about ‘development work’ which reinforces the average European citizen’s dominant image of Africa.

Participing curators : Kobena Mercer, Simon Njami, Didier Schaub, Nontobeko (Nonto) Ntombela Mabong, Koyo Kouoh, Oyinda Fakeye.

Participating artists: Jude Anogwih, Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo, Theo Eshetu, Achilleka Komguem, Vincent Meessen, Emeka Ogboh, Mark Aerial Waller,...

Various locations : SMBA/ Montevideo/Maison Descartes

October 12-14, 2009.

30 participants : see the SMBA website for details.

Impakt Festival, Utrecht (The Netherlands)

The 20th edition of Impakt festival will take place from October 14 through October 18 in Utrecht. For the Accelerated Living program, Impakt invited two guest curators : Stoffel Debuysere and Maria Palacios. Their program include works by Bruce Conner, Dryden Goodwin, Philip Hoffman, Gordon Matta-Clark, Kurt Kren, Michel Pavlou and many more.

Next to the thematic program of Accelerated Living, the Festival features the annual panorama program which provides an annual overview of contemporary cutting edge film and video art. It includes new works by artits and filmakers such as Doug Fishbone, Steve Reinke, Manuel Sainz, Björn Melhus, Vincent Meessen, Yves Netzhammer, Erkka Nissinen,...

KunsFilmBiennale, Köln/Bonn

As a unique combination of exhibition and festival, presenting short and feature-length, experimental and narrative film, the Cologne-based KunstFilmBiennale has since 2002 systematically been exploring the borders between art and cinema. From October 28 to November 1, 2009, The KunstFilmBiennale will once again offer an overview of what is currently happening with film in art and art in film - in movie thetares, galleries and museums in Cologne and Bonn.

Participing artists : Doug Aitken, Eija-Liisa Athila, Keren Cytter, Nathalie Djurberg, Bruno Dumont, Omer Fast, Adam Leech, Mark Lewis, Vincent Meessen, Samuel Maoz, Deimantas Narkevicius, Bjorn Melhus, Sarah Morris, Sam Taylor-Wood, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Javier Tellez, Clemens von Wedemeyer,...

Venues in Cologne : Filmforum im MuseumLudwig, CINEDOM, Filmpalette

Venues in Bonn : Kunstmuseum Bonn

Unknown Territory, Museum De Paviljoens, Almere (NL)

From August 21 to November 8, 2009, Museum De Paviljoens in The Netherlands shows Unknown Territory : a cabinet of art with objetcs, visions and observations. Unkwonw Territory 2009 is a advocacy for parallel and interdisciplinary approaches of the architectural environment.

With works by Annesas Appel, Gwenneth Boelens, Nickel van Duijvenboden, Hala Elkoussy, Cevdet Erek, Anne Holtrop, Yasmijn Karhof, Marijn van Kreij, Vincent Meessen and sarah van Sonsbeeck.

Contour Biennale for Moving Image, Mechelen (B)

Vita Nova's exhibition première will take place during Contour Biennale for Moving Images, in Mechelen (Belgium).

"Vincent Meessen’s new film ‘Vita Nova’ takes as its point of departure a cover of the French magazine Paris-Match, from 1955. On this cover, a child soldier is depicted in the act of making a military salute. The artist subsequently embarks on a search for Diouf, the child soldier, weaving an elaborate narrative that brings together phantoms from the colonial past, the writings of Roland Barthes – who wrote about this particular image – and issues that centre on the representation and re-writing of history, its repressed narratives, as well as the spectral nature of photography."