C0N10UR

yours, 2023, 80’, English, French & Dutch spoken, English & Dutch subs

On display at arts centre nona, Begijnenstraat 27 Mechelen Wednesday to Sunday 11:30, 13:00, 14:30, 16:00

A group of artists are invited to be inspired by the work of the well-known, Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, specifically her film News from Home (1976). The busy city of New York serves as the film’s main character. Meanwhile, we hear Akerman’s voice reading letters from her mother in Brussels. She recounts daily anecdotes from the home front and increasingly urgent requests for news from New York.

A group of artists are asked to make one film together: each with their own voice, style, and starting point. During the working process, questions arose such as: how do you as an artist relate to another film practice, how do you create a collective work while maintaining your individuality?

You’ll see no less than five different films within one kaleidoscopic film: Stone, Hat, Ribbon and Rose by Eva Giolo, Barefoot Birthdays on Unbreakable Glass by Rebecca Jane Arthur, When Things Fall Apart by Katja Mater, Un Âne by the artistic duo Sirah Foighel Brutmann and Eitan Efrat, and The possibility of being sea by Maaike Neuville. Details such as letters and metros, and themes such as dislocation, detached city life, alienation versus feeling at home, distance versus proximity, and the mother-daughter relationship echo Akerman’s films.

Unfortunately, the artists are no longer able to engage directly with the filmmaker, who passed away in 2015. However, this joint work attests to a way of engaging in dialogue with her work.