Serge Bard
Eric Baudelaire
Ericka Beckman
Cinema Action
Patrick Deval
Lav Diaz
Mati Diop
Stephen Dwoskin
Luke Fowler
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Pierre Gorin
Johan Grimonprez
Marc Karlin
Stuart Marshall
Anne-Marie Mieville
Pere Portabella
Yvonne Rainer
Jackie Raynal
Anne Charlotte Robertson
Helke Sander
Jon Sanders
James Scott
Albert Serra
Leslie Thornton
Humphry Trevelyan
Dan Kidner
2/12/2015
The Inoperative Community
Raven Row, London
An exhibition of experimental narrative film and video that address ideas of community and the shifting nature of social relations. It focuses on a period that could be described as the long 1970s (1968-84) - all the works were either made during this time, or reflect on the radical social and political movements of the era.
Serge Bard, Eric Baudelaire, Ericka Beckman, Cinema Action, Patrick Deval, Lav Diaz, Mati Diop, Stephen Dwoskin, Luke Fowler, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Johan Grimonprez, Marc Karlin, Stuart Marshall, Anne-Marie Miéville, Pere Portabella, Yvonne Rainer, Jackie Raynal, Anne Charlotte Robertson, Helke Sander, Jon Sanders, James Scott, Albert Serra, Leslie Thornton, Humphry Trevelyan
Curated by Dan Kidner
'The Inoperative Community’ is an exhibition of experimental narrative film and video that address ideas of community and the shifting nature of social relations. It draws on work made since 1968 for cinema, television and the gallery, reflecting the overlapping and entangled histories of these sites. The exhibition’s title is borrowed from Jean-Luc Nancy’s 1983 essay of the same name, and while this connection did not determine the selection of works, they all bear witness in their own way to what Nancy characterised as the ‘dissolution, the dislocation, or the conflagration of community’. Many concern the limits of political activism and the fate of left political subcultures, and all use narrative as a means to explore social and political issues.
Encompassing over fifty hours of material the exhibition can be navigated by means of a printed or downloadable programme. Each visitor will only be able to see a fraction of the works on offer, but connections can be made between works on any particular course through the exhibition, which has been designed to accommodate both prolonged viewing and shorter visits. A screening room will show five daily programmes, in a more structured approach to the exhibition’s historical and political framework. These begin with an Anglo-French focus before expanding to include international filmmakers reflecting on the radical political movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
The exhibition focuses on a period that could be described as the long 1970s (1968-84) – all the works were either made during this time, or reflect on the radical social and political movements of the era. The defiant video installation about the Aids crisis, Journal of the Plague Year (1984) by Stuart Marshall (1949–93, UK) has been specially restored for the exhibition. Also included is a new edit – within an installation designed for the exhibition – of Peggy and Fred in Hell (1984–2015) by Leslie Thornton (b. 1951, USA), featuring footage shot whilst in residence at Raven Row; and newly available reels from the epic Five Year Diary (1981–97) by Anne Charlotte Robertson (1949–2012, USA), preserved by the Harvard Film Archive, will be screened for the first time in the UK.
For all press enquiries, please contact Elizabeth Stanton, email; elizabeth@ravenrow.org or telephone +44 (0)20 7377 4300.
Raven Row
56 Artillery Lane London E1 7LS
Extended gallery opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday 11am-7pm