Runa Islam
dal 7/5/2008 al 12/7/2008
Segnalato da
7/5/2008
Runa Islam
Museum Moderner Kunst MUMOK, Wien
The exhibition presents a 35mm film installation entitled Empty the pond to get the fish. With this new work, Islam pursues her previous interest in the film apparatus, bringing the relationship between language and visual perception to the forefront of her concerns. In this film, the artist writes with the camera, that is, she moves the camera as though it were a pencil, with its movement producing the letters and words.
curated by Matthias Michalka
Runa Islam, born in 1970 in Bangladesh and currently living in London, reflects in her installations and projections on the aesthetic and the illusory character of the medium of film. The MUMOK Factory exhibition will present a 35mm film installation entitled Empty the pond to get the fish recently produced in cooperation with the MUMOK in addition to two other recently made works shot on 16mm film.
With this new work, Islam pursues her previous interest in the film apparatus, bringing the relationship between language and visual perception to the forefront of her concerns. In this film, the artist “writes” with the camera, that is, she moves the 35mm camera as though it were a pencil, with its movement producing the letters and words. In this way, the movement of the camera creates a contradictory perception of the space, objects and what is going on in front of the camera, which is shown in fragments only revealing what is captured in the “language” of film. The project was shot in the “Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts”, a building with a light glass architecture which was both designed to exhibit artworks while at the same time including a movie theater.
In much the same way as Runa Islam’s newest work, her 16mm projections Be The First To See What You See As You See It (2004) and First Day of Spring (2005) examine the underlying principles of cinematographic production and turn the viewer’s attention towards the complex interplay of formal elements and social factors. Analysis and sensuality intermix in this context in multiple ways. Runa Islam’s film installations show the visual power, the construction and the social significance of the cinematographic image. They challenge perception, making the act of viewing itself, with all of its institutional and psychological foundations, into the object of consideration.
Press Contact
Eva Engelberger
Michaela Zach
Tel +43-1-52500-1400, 2384
Fax +43-1-52500-1300
press@mumok.at
Opening May 8, 2008, 19
Museum Moderner Kunst MUMOK
Museumsplatz 1 - Wien
Hours Mon. – Sun. 10:00 – 18:00; Thurs. 10:00 – 21:00