Due to the ease of its digital production, reproduction and distribution (legal or otherwise), film is now a ubiquitous medium, beamed onto buildings and billboards, visible in metro stations and car consoles, at home on DVD, television and the internet, as well as in cinemas and in a worldwide proliferation of festivals. Used and abused in the form of propaganda, or employed more subtly to reinforce (and undermine) dominant modes of thinking in society, film speaks directly to a broad audience, making it one of the most sophisticated ways to transmit a moral message or explore a moral question.
Occupying one floor of Witte de With's galleries, this curated film cycle presents moral tales as told by artists and film-makers through the medium of the moving image. As a deliberate curatorial decision, no hierarchical distinction is made between video, DVD, 35 or 16mm film, between artists' videos or major Hollywood productions. The films presented range from mainstream to art-house movies, from technically complex works with elaborate scripts and settings to hand-held, homemade films. Grouped thematically into 12-hour long categories, this program examines a range of moral issues through the lens of artists and film-makers, creating a kaleidoscope of over 100 hours of film, open 24 hours a day for a period of four days.
Featuring works by AES+F, Fikret Atay, Sven Augustijnen, Yael Bartana, Guy Ben-Ner, Rossella Biscotti, Mark Boulos, Olaf Breuning, k r buxey, Heather Burnett, ChimPom, Sunah Choi, Chto Delat/What is to be done?, Martha Colburn, Phil Collins, Joost Conijn, Stefan Constantinescu, Keren Cytter, Jeremy Deller, Nathalie Djurberg, Stan Douglas, Harun Farocki, Cyprien Gaillard, Johan Grimonprez, Ivan Grubanov, Alfredo Jaar, Christian Jankowski, Job Koelewijn, Florence Lazar, Erik van Lieshout, Renzo Martens, Gustav Metzger, Valerie Mrejen, Ciprian Muresan, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Adrian Paci, Julika Rudelius, Masaharu Sato, Deborah Stratman, Pilvi Takala, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Artur Zmijewski, and more.
Curated by Zoe Gray, assisted by Hessel de Ronde