Textures of Time / Against Common Sense - Ghosty Presence (2011)

April 8, 11 and 13, 2011
Frederic Parker Gallery, London, The United Kingdom

Curated by Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk in collaboration with the MA 'Curating the Contemporary', taught jointly between the London Metropolitan University and the Whitechapel Gallery.

Ghosts call our calendars into question. The temporality of haunting, through which events and people return from the limits of time and mortality, differs sharply from the modern concept of a linear, progressive, finite time. The hauntings recounted by ghost narratives are not merely instances of the past reasserting itself in our perceivably stable present. On the contrary, the ghostly return of traumatic events is precisely what troubles the boundaries of past, present, and future. The ghost always presents a problem, not merely because it might provoke disbelief, but because it is only admissible insofar as it can be rationalized by a modern concept of time. One could argue, from the standpoint of modern historical consciousness, supernatural forces can claim no agency in our narratives. During this event we would like to consider the problems that rise with such discourse and scrutinize the ghostly presence and condition from a current perspective.

15.00 - 16.30 - Screening Finisterrae
Finisterrae tells the story of two ghosts who, tired of wandering through limbo, decide to take the Way of Saint James, to the end of the world so that once there, they may begin a new fleeting, earthly stage in the land of the living. An introspective journey through dreamlike and unwelcoming lands in which they will come across extraordinary characters. The two must confront unexpected situations, battle with their own fears and struggle with the obstacles of their own ghostly condition.

17.00 - 18.30 - Lecture Ken McMullen
Ken McMullen is a Research Professor at the University of the Arts London who specialises in creative practice across a range of forms including documentary and feature films, projections, live performances and visual essays. During his lecture, Ken McMullen will talk about his recent film An Organization of Dreams (2009), featuring philosopher Bernard Stiegler addressing notions of immateriality and the influence of cinema.

18.30 - 20.00 - Screening Ghost Dance
British filmmaker Ken McMullen's improvisational, non-linear film, Ghost Dance (1983) offers a stunning analysis of the complexity of our conceptions of ghosts, memory and the past through the experiences of two women in Paris and London. The film focuses on philosopher Jacques Derrida who considers ghosts to be the memory of something which has never been present, but which takes us by surprise.

The exhibition Textures of Time will be accompanied by the parallel events programme Textures of Time / Against Common Sense. The programme will create a space for showing a range of attitudes that problematize a total conception of temporality, focusing on the less tangible forces and attitudes that are normally considered as deviated from common thinking and behavior. The programme will encompass lectures and screenings addressing temporalities by means of thematic events like Ghostly Presence, Collages of the Old World and (re)Placing Absence. Textures of Time / Against Common Sense intends to actively engage with temporalities by means of artistic research and critical enquiry.

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