n the early 1970s Lange produced a series of black-and-white video works that, in their method and subject matter, were quite different from most video art production in that era (which was in most cases medium-specific, conceptual or related to performance). Unlike many of his contemporaries, Darcy Lange worked in the tradition of the social documentary, around the general theme of “people at work”. In English factories, mines and schools he videotaped long shots of people busy with their everyday working routines. He established a unique participatory working method whereby Lange maintained a personal relation with the people he recorded, playing back the recorded material to them and integrating their feedback in the final work. This communicative approach was emphasized by his wish to stimulate and actively engage the public. At this moment, the resulting video works offer a rare, detailed insight into everyday tasks and semi-automated working processes in the 1970s.
A few years later, Lange started working on a creative documentary about the Maori people in his home country New Zealand. For three years he recorded footage that focused on the Maoris’ efforts to protect their cultural identity and to establish their land rights over territories that have a sacred value to them. Darcy Lange then visited the Netherlands and established contacts with Rene Coelho, founder of Montevideo (the predecessor of the Netherlands Media Art Institute), who assisted him in editing and producing the documentary. Furthermore, he entered into an artistic collaboration with Dutch scientists: Darcy Lange’s Maori footage was used in a research project by the Sociological Institute of the University of Utrecht. Finally, the various outcomes of the Maori Land Project were shown in an exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum (January-February 1980).
On the occasion of a research visit to NIMk, curator Mercedes Vicente will contextualize Darcy Lange’s oeuvre and will explain the screened works. A new monograph on Darcy Lange, including texts by Guy Brett, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Dan Graham, Helen Legg and Mercedes Vicente will be available in December, co-published by Ikon Gallery (Birmingham, UK) and Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (New Plymouth, NZ).
View some of Darcy Lange's work in the NIMk catalogue.
Start 8 p.m.
Entrance 3,50 (2,50 with discount)
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Language: English