Art FIFA 2016: Alberto Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti, Sculptor of the Gaze

Film by Charles De Lartigue

France | English | subtitled French | 2016 | 52 min

WORLD PREMIERE

At an auction in London in 2010, Alberto Giacometti's sculpture Walking Man was sold for 68 million pounds, which represents 104 million dollars. This was a world record, the largest sum of money ever paid for a single sculpture.

In order to better understand this phenomenal event, and the tremendous power that Giacometti's works have on art lovers, the film guides the spectator through the artist's life, and also through his artistic journey and creative processes. There are many photographs shown from his life, as well as short filmed interviews in which Giacometti comments on how he works. His artistic thoughts and ideas, expressed both on and off camera, are also revealed.

The film brings Giacometti to life, exposing his way of seeing people and the world around him. It brings into focus how individual is his creative journey, how unique are his perceptions which he moulds into his sculptures or portrays in his drawings and painting, thus showing to the world what he sees. 

Official Synopses:

"A journey into the life and works of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), who revolutionized 20th century sculpture. It is Giacometti himself who guides us with his gravelly voice and true Italian flair. His first experiments with reduction, around the age of 18, set the path for research that he would pursue for the rest of his life. Along the way, he flirted with the various currents of the time—Cubism, Negro art, Abstraction and Surrealism—before defining his own vision, which beginning in 1946 came to full fruition."

Charles De Lartigue

A writer, director and producer, Charles de Lartigue studied law and art history before turning to filmmaking.

Filmography | Les peintres et la Provence (1995-1996), série ; Yachting, a 150 year tradition? ; From Flandres to Europe ; Euralille ; La Turbine tertiaire ; Aurélie Nemours, le silence de la peinture ; Gottfried Honegger, l’art concret ; America’s Cup, The Quest for Excellence.

Production Team:

Screenplay Charles De Lartigue
Cinematography Olivier Mauguy, Volker Noack
Sound Jean-Claude Leita
Editing Arthur Guibert, Nina Lucia
Music Ian Freebairn-Smith
Narration Ian Freebairn-Smith
Participation Alberto Giacometti
Artists Alberto Giacometti
Producer Charles De Lartigue
Production ANGLE LLC
Distribution ANGLE LLC

For more information on the 34th Edition of the International festival of Films on Art (FIFA) visit the  the Art FIFA website.

FILM TRAILER

Art FIFA 2016: Galleria Borghese

Museo Italia – Galleria Borghese

Film by Mimma Nocelli

Italy | Italian | subtitled English | 2015 | 50 min | documentary

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

The film introduces to the viewers the magnificent Villa Borghese, the ancestral house of the noble Roman family Borghese. The Villa, along with its entire art collection, and together with all the grounds and gardens, was sold to the State of Italy in 1901 by the Borghese heirs for 3.6 million liras. This was indeed a very generous transaction on the part of the Borghese family, especially when one considers that at the same time Baron Rothschild was offering to buy only one of many paintings housed in the Villa for 4 million liras.

The Villa was commissioned by Scipione Borghese (1577-1633), who was a Cardinal and a nephew of Pope Paul V. It was intended to be a summer residence at the edge of Rome, and also a a party villa. It was build by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, but Cardinal Scipione Borghese developed sketches for it by himself.

Cardinal Scipione Borghese was patron of arts. He was an avid art collector with a great taste, vast art knowledge, and he housed all his art acquisitions at his lavish Villa Borghese. Cardinal Scipione Borghese was also the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the sculptor Bernini. The works of these two artists are shown and discussed at length in the film.

The camera shots are almost never still. The camera moves from the gardens inside the Villa, and then from one room to the next, exposing the interior splendour of the Villa and the works of art inside it. The shooting angle is moving constantly, showing the works of art from various perspectives, and zooming in on various details in a rapid succession. 

Film's Official Synopses:

"The most beautiful private collection in the world” is how Canova described Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s collection at the turn of the 17th century. A nephew of Pope Paul V, Scipione built the Villa Borghese in a large park just outside the walls of Rome to house this exceptional collection, which ranged from ancient works to contemporary pieces by such masters as Caravaggio and Bernini. Thus arose the modern concept of the collector: curious, refined in taste, quick to identify quality and the spirit of the time."

Mimma Nocelli

After studying architecture in Rome, Mimma Nocellia began directing programs, concert recordings, music videos and documentaries for Italian television.

Filmography | Viva Africa, série, 15 épisodes ; Amerindia, série, 15 épisoes ; Poiesis, série, 5 épisodes ; Tutti in scena ; Donne al bibio ; Une notte con Zeus.

Production Team:


Screenplay Antonio Paolucci
Artists Scipione Borghese, Le Caravage, Le Bernin
Producer Pasquale D'Alessandro
Production RAI 5

For more information on the 34th Edition of the International festival of Films on Art (FIFA) visit the  the Art FIFA website.

FILM TRAILER

MAC 2016: Ryan Gander

RYAN GANDER:
MAKE EVERY SHOW Like it's your last 

March 3 - May 22, 2016

The Montreal's Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) is presenting the work of Ryan Gander, one of Britain’s most prolific artists. This is a retooled version of a travelling exhibition. This first solo presentation of Gander’s work in Montréal reflects his interest in the processes of artistic creation and modes of perception.

The artist is drawing on a variety of media: visual arts, film, photography, design, performance. The thirty or so pieces on view at the MAC illustrate how Gander uses his trans-disciplinary works, striving to constantly reinvent his artistic expression and his own rules of creating art.

In his piece entitled Magnus Opus, he uses Animatronic eyes and sensors. See just below four different "eye expressions" caught by my camera. You will see the full range of eye movements when you visit the show.

Click on images to enlarge them.

For more information on this exhibition and the MAC museum, visit the museum's website.

McCord 2016: Nadia Myre

Decolonial Gestures or Doing it Wrong?

Refaire le chemin

February 18 - May 29, 2016

The McCord Museum of Montreal, a public research and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, study, diffusion, and appreciation of Canadian History, is presenting a new exhibition by Nadia Myre, an artist from the museum's Artist-in-Residence Program.

Nadia Myre is an Algonquin multidisciplinary artist. For this exhibition she draws her inspiration from Victorian (1837-1901) women’s periodicals, journals and publications to create her work. The periodicals came out once per month, and at the end of each year were bound together and published as a book. Those books consisted of a number of household advices for the comfortable, well-to-do class of women. There were musical scores for songs and compositions to entertain guests at a piano, and also instructions how-to do crafts, which included beadwork and making native-like objects.

Myre's project consisted of creating four items mentioned in the Victorian era journals that McCord Museum has in its permanent collection. One such item was a basket, featured in an image of a page just above on the right. The items from the magazines were selected by the museum's staff. Myre had no idea what they selected. The instructions how to make the items were recorded by the museum's staff, skipping and omitting all the words that named or identified the objects. All Myre had to work with were these oral, truncated instructions. Her task was to reconstruct and create the items without knowing what they were. The exhibition presents side by side the artist's final creations as well as the similar period items made by the native craftsmen which are in the McCord Museum's permanent collection.

Myre's idea was to recreate the native craftsmanship through the colonial appropriation of the instructions how to make the objects. By means of this conceptual installation, the artists reconnected to her native roots. She worked backwards, in a blind-like manner, without knowing exactly what she was making.

The results are pretty impressive. Come and visit the exhibition and see for yourself how it was done. Just imagine how you would have been able to manage with the skimpy instructions that Nadia Myre had, to create any items of use and beauty. The audio recordings of those initial instructions are available to the visitors, as well as a large video in the middle of the exhibition hall that depicts how the artist herself was handling this issue, working, reconstructing the objects on the bases of instructions she received.

You will see some other interesting items and documents on display like, for instance, period photos that attest to the Victorian people's interest in native artefacts.

Click on images to enlarge them.

Hover your mouse over images for description and credits.

For more information, visit the McCord Museum website.

PAC 2016: Fragments d’humanité - Book

Archaeology of Québec Book Series

Fragments d’humanité - Pièces de collections

Montreal's Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archeology (PAC Museum) has launched the second book of its Archaeology of Quebec Book Series, which will consists of 5 volumes dedicated to Quebec archaeology. These books will summarise the results of about 50 years of archaeological research in the Province of Quebec. They will show in full the richness of Quebec’s historical heritage and artefacts, the importance of preserving them, and making them better known to all.

The book presents many items from different collections of artefacts uncovered in Québec. It complements the exhibition now on view at the PAC Museum Fragments of Humanity - Fragments d’humanité.

The present publication Fragments d’humanité – Pièces de collections, is a new volume in the “Archéologie du Québec” book collection, which already includes Air – Territoire et peuplemen, the first volum in the series, published a year ago. You can read about that first volume and peek inside the book here.

This second book just launched features some of the most important archaeological discoveries made over the last few decades in Québec, from the perspective of collections. The subjects addressed in the book are the same as those in the Fragments of Humanity exhibition that you can read about here. Moreover, book is enhanced with photographs, artefacts, and rich iconography.

This book is the result of a partnership between the Ministry of Culture and Communications and Pointe-à-Callière. It was produced under the direction of Louise Pothier, Head Archaeologist at Pointe-à-Callière, and published by Éditions de l’Homme. The complete collection will be made up of five books; the first two books are available at the PAC Museum Shop and in regular bookstores.

Click on images to enlarge them.

For more information, visit the PAC Museum website.

To purchase the book, visit the PAC Museum's Online gift shop.

PAC 2016: Fragments of Humanity

Fragments of Humanity - Fragments d’humanité

Archaeology in Québec 

February 13, 2016 - January 8, 2017

This is the very first major exhibition dedicated entirely to Québec archaeology. It celebrates the 50 years of archaeological discovery in Québec. It features some 350 significant pieces, chosen from among collections and finds from archaeological digs carried out at over 10,000 sites throughout the territory of Québec. They are objects that reflect Quebec's past and tell the province's story while revealing a wide range of of the objects' origin and variety. The great majority of the pieces have never been seen by the general public. They were taken out of the Ministry of Culture and Communications’ (MCC) archaeological reserve for the very first time.

Fragments of Humanity also features objects from extensive heritage collections that are largely unknown to the public. The Bécancour collection, a treasury of projectile points, some of which may date back over 8,000 years, is the oldest archaeological collection in Canada.

The Burger collection, for its part, includes some objects that date back 5,000 years. This collection was amassed between 1930 and 1950 by an American, Valerie Burger, who collected close to 2,000 artefacts around Kempt and Manouane lakes, in the Upper Mauricie region, with the help of members of the Atikamekw community. Visitors to the exhibition will also get to see several pieces from the archaeological collection of Place-Royale in Québec City, designated as heritage objects, and also from Pointe-à-Callière’s collection.

Conceived and promoted by the Pointe-à-Callière (PAC) Museum of Archaeology and History, the exhibition also featuring objects from about ten other lenders including the City of Montréal, Québec City, Pointe-du-Buisson/Musée québécois d’archéologie, the Musée des Ursulines in Trois-Rivières, Avataq Cultural Institute, and Parks Canada.

The exhibition looks back at the events and ways of life behind the discovered fragments of our historical humanity. Each in their own way, these fragments reveal various facets of our heritage.

Presented both chronologically and thematically, the exhibition—which highlights the richness and diversity of Québec’s archaeological collections—is divided into four zones:

• ancient stories or prehistoric archaeology
• a land of trade and commerce
• chronicles of daily life
• and stories from the depths

After Montreal, the exhibition will embark on a tour that will take it to several other places in Québec and Canada.

Fragments of Humanity. Archaeology in Québec is an exhibition produced by Pointe-à-Callière, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Communications. The exhibition received financial support from the Government of Canada. 

Click on images to enlarge them.

Hover your mouse over images for description and credits.

For more information, visit the PAC Museum website.