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Vita Nova

Monday 17 August 2009

NEW FILM PRODUCTION by Normal

Vita Nova takes as its point of departure a mythic 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. Taking this cover as his cue, the artist weaves together phantoms from the colonial past, the writings of Roland Barthes –who wrote about this particular image in his famous Mythologies – historical facts, reality, and artistic interpretation. The film raises issues that centre on the representation and re-writing of history, its repressed narratives as well as the spectral nature of photography. From Paris to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), passing by Bingerville (the old capital of the Ivory Coast), the spectator is invited to piece together the fragments of this layered unfolding of events and accounts, as temporalities are dislocated and chronologically disconnected. Drawing on a variety of media and archives, Vincent Meessen creates a parallel and updated story in which a new character is born (Vita Nova) and with him a new narrative. The film gives life to the autobiographical story of a character: Roland Barthes, revisited by the phantom of the colonial. With his new film, Meessen not only brings to the fore repressed or marginalised narratives but also reflects on the artifice that forms part of historiographical discourse, using the fiction of ‘realism’ and the experience of the archive to elaborate his own personal, ‘factual fiction.’

Vita Nova, 2009

26 min, colour, spoken

French with english or dutch subtitles

Directed by Vincent Meessen

Co-produced by Contour Biennale for Moving Images

With the support of VAF, Flemish Film Fund.

Vincent Meessen (°1971, Baltimore) is a visual artist living in Brussels. Recent exhibitions and screenings include the Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam (solo), ; Cinéma du Réel, Centre Pompidou/MK2, Paris; ; Extra City, Antwerp (guest-curator); BAK, Utrecht; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; and Swiss Institute, NYC. He is part of Potential Estate, a temporary collective whose work was recently presented at MuHKA, Antwerp (extra muros), and during The Brussels Biennale. His film works are distributed by Argos, Brussels and Montevideo/NMIK, Amsterdam.


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NEXT PRESENTATIONS

31 août, par Current and Upcoming




Argos Center for Art & Media,Brussels, Salon5Cabinet David Bald Eagle/Potential EstateSeptember 12, 2010. 


-Video Dumbo, New York, September 24-26, 2010.


- KW Berlin, Highlights from the Cologne KunstfilmBiennaleKunst-Werke , October 13-31, 2010.

Autograph ABP, Rivington Place, London, October 15, 2010


International Film Festival Gent /KASKThe Documentary Real, Vooruit, Gent, October 21, 2010


-De Brakke Grond / IDFA, Expanding Documentary, Amsterdam, November 18-January 9, 2011.

Free Falling, PACT Zollverein, Essen (DE)

9 juin, par Current and Upcoming



Opening at PACT Zollverein with FREE FALLING is a new series of film programmes, conversations, and lectures. The first weekend unfolds around two pivotal works that highlight junctures between artistic and societal experimentation: William Greaves’ "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One" (1968), a rarely shown Black Cinema classic, documents the process of its own genesis, thereby questioning the borders between fiction and reality. Jean-Pierre Gorin’s filmic essay "Poto and Cabengo" (1979), most recently shown at Documenta 12, hones in on the language habits of a set of twins from California, reflecting on the limitations of societal integration. Posited in dialogue therewith are more recent works, such as those by Vincent Meessen, Stefan Hayn, Peggy Ahwesh, and Laure Prouvost.

Also : Clemens von Wedemeyer, Sharon Lockhart, Kevin J. Everson, Phil Collins, Joyce Wieland & Hollis Frampton ...

Curated by Katrin Mundt

May 28 & 29, 2010
PACT Zollverein
Essen
Germany

Transmediale video tour

6 juin, par Current and Upcoming

Transmediale video tour

Athens Video Art Festival, Greece, 08 May 2010 MUV - music and digital art festival of Florence, Italy, 01 Jun 2010 Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, 18 Jun 2010 Mediaforum, Moscow, 22 Jun 2010
Goethe-Institut, Mexico City, 23 Jun 2010 San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 25 Jun 2010
MediaDepo project, Lviv, Ukraine, 23-29 Aug 2010

Stardust in a nutshell, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin

20 mai, par Current and Upcoming

Stardust in a nutshell


Stefaan Dheedene, Christian Hanussek / Salifou Lindou, Dunja Herzog, Boris Nzébo, Maarten Vanden Eynde / Alioum Moussa, Patrick Wokmeni


Curated by Annette Schemmel/Enough Room for Space for Savvy Contemporary


Opening: Saturday, June 12 2010, 8 p.m.


At 9 p.m: Screening of Vincent Meessen’s video "Vita Nova"


Opening hours: June 13 – July 10, 2010, Thu – Sat: 4 – 8 p.m.


Savvy Contemporary – The laboratory of form-ideas

Richardstr. 43/44

D-12043 Berlin


A Prior magazine, issue # 20

18 mai, par Current and Upcoming


A Prior selected five artists, each of whom in their own way write about/ show their research. Mekhitar Garabedian and Ruth Buchanan do this in an associative, poetic manner that is also beautifully present in the visual images that they create. They offer a wealth of source material, which bears witness to great generosity and which allows visitors to cast a different eye on artistic production. Victor Burgin and Vincent Meessen decided on a dialogue. In conversation with Hilde Van Gelder and Katrin Mundt, they illuminate the fundamental concerns in their work and clarify the many theoretical influences and references that have helped shape their oeuvre. Finally, Ian Kiaer gives us insight into an art historical research produced within the strict rules of academic research. These three models of research are only a few variations in the ways that research in the arts is conducted today, by visual artists. It is an exceptional, enriching honour for us to be able to offer the artists this forum and indeed, to see how differently they approach its formal aspects.

Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France

31 mars, par Current and Upcoming


Flare #12, Musée Fabre (auditorium), Montpellier (F)
April 1, 2010, 6PM.
Screening by Florence Lazar & Vincent Meessen
followed by artist talks with Corine Rondeau
(Nîmes University /France Culture radio)



Les soirées Flare mettent en lumière les formes contemporaines de l’image en mouvement : films d’artistes, nouveaux médias, art vidéo, cinémas en marge, qui troublent les frontières entre art contemporain et cinéma. Comment les œuvres des artistes vidéo d'aujourd'hui travaillent-elles les formes cinématographiques ? Cette actualité de l'art contemporain est abordée sous la forme d’une rencontre avec des artistes, cinéastes et vidéastes, des diffuseurs et des critiques d’art.
Ces soirées sont organisées par Languedoc-Roussillon Cinéma en collaboration avec le Musée Fabre et l'Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Montpellier Agglomération.