Congratulations to the fantastic team at Film Grain Foundation, who presented the second edition of the festival from Friday 3rd to Saturday 11th June 2016.
As a new sidebar to the programme, ARTNAKED were invited to curate a new sidebar to the programme, choosing a selection of leading international visual artists working in the media of film to present as a series of ‘Art Shorts’. We received submissions from around the world, and we were thrilled to present a final curation of we were incredibly proud!
The impressive roster included critically appraised and award-winning artworks, alongside several artists who have recently been shown in either art biennales or film festivals globally. All artwork shown as part of the ‘ARTNAKED Art Shorts’ series was previously unseen on the Maltese islands.
Encompassing animation, puppetry, abstract and surrealist video artwork, ‘Art Shorts’ juxtaposes the gruesome with the serene, the political with the purely aesthetic. Christopher Gray’s new work, “Death by Chair”, recently announced winner of the prestigious XL Catlin Art Prize, portrays through puppetry the gruesome scene of a medieval torture chamber, in stark contrast to Bongsu Park’s “Lethe River”, a captivating vision of light and movement choreographed through the filming and manipulation of traditional Korean dance, the artist’s interpretation of the Grecian myth alluded to in the work’s title. Wu Xiaohai’s animated drawing, created during a time of social distress in the artist’s natice China, stands as a foretelling of China’s recent and current social issues, while Vasiliisa Forbes presents the objectification of women in pop art and media through a visual arts campaign, stylised in the manner of a 'fashion film'. Andrew Hancock, presenting a fresh cut of his 30 minute contribution to last year’s Moscow Biennale, refers back to the art world itself, a playful, satirical, colourful and illuminating piece, rich in Art History and the struggles of the contemporary arts. Shin Kiwoun, also, considers the notion of value – this time in relation to the value and power of modern commodities, both in their being and in their destruction.
Find out more about the ARTNAKED 'ART SHORTS' LINE UP HERE
Photo (c) Ali Tollervey