Authors Collection
The ideas and the creative process of relevant contemporary artists are the focal points of the Videobrasil Authors Collection documentaries. In six films, released between 2000 and 2009, the collection features the works of William Kentridge (South Africa), Rafael França (Brazil), Maurício Dias (Brazil) and Walter Riedweg (Switzerland), Akram Zaatari (Lebnon), Coco Fusco (USA) and the Rio de Janeiro-based collective Chelpa Ferro.In the films, guest directors use an essayistic approach to document the working process of the artists featured, following the development of artwork and investigating the connections between the artists’ creations and their surroundings. With extras that include interviews and making of footage of installations and performances, the documentaries are distributed internationally by Idea Books (www.ideabooks.nl).
The Videobrasil Authors Collection is produced by Associação Cultural Videobrasil, by means of partnerships with the Prince Claus Fund (The Netherlands) and SESC São Paulo (Brazil).
A reference center for artistic production from the world’s geopolitical South, Associação Cultural Videobrasil (www.videobrasil.org.br) creates actions geared towards diffusing knowledge on contemporary art. The 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil (www2.sescsp.org.br) will accept enrolments until March and will be held in São Paulo in September 2011.
CHELPA FERRO
51’53″, Brazil, 2009
Produced by: Associação Cultural Videobrasil
Directed by: Carlos Nader
Established in 1995 by fine artists Barrão and Luiz Zerbini, and by film editor Sergio Mekler, Chelpa Ferro explores the plasticity of sound in sculptures, objects, installations and performances. In the sixth documentary of the Videobrasil Authors Collection series, Carlos Nader shares with the group the assembly of the Totoro sound object, at the São Paulo State Art Gallery, and of the Jungle Jam installation, at the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia (2008). Extras include footage of artwork created by the trio from 2005 until 2009.
COCO FUSCO: I LIKE GIRLS IN UNIFORM
48’31″, Brazil, 2006
Produced by: Associação Cultural Vdeobrasil
Directed by: Wagner Morales
Shocks between cultures are the theme of essays, videos, installations and performances by the United States-based artist Coco Fusco. Made in New York and São Paulo, Coco Fusco: I Like Girls in Uniform revisits her career as a teacher, activist, performer and researcher, and follows her through the creation of Bare Life Study # 1, a performance based on American military torture that the artist presented during the 15th Videobrasil (2005).
AKRAM ZAATARI: A GLIMPSE OF ONE MAN’S VISION
42′ 21” Brazil, 2004
Produced by: Associação Cultural Videobrasil
Directed by: Alex Gabassi
During the Lebanese civil war years, Akram Zaatari used to record his daily life in a diary: explosions, shelters, the purchase of a car. “The contradictions of life that goes on in conflicted areas,” he says. The diary was his first contact with image production. Later on he would produce videos and installations that approach sexuality, politics and history. The film follows his steps in his home country and in Brazil, and includes previously unseen statements from some of the leading names in the Lebanese contemporary scene.
MAU WAL: TRANSLATED ENCOUNTERS
52’41” Brazil, 2002
Produced by: Associação Cultural Videobrasil
Directed by: Fabiana Werneck and Marco Del Fiol
Maurício Dias and Walter Riedweg say that their workshop is the street. It is by watching the streets and the people in them that they come up with installations that deal with identity and territoriality. In this documentary, they present their work and the different characters behind it: street merchants at a fair selling northeastern Brazilian products in São Paulo, illegal immigrants seeking the European dream, street adolescents and their memories.
RAFAEL FRANÇA: WORK AS TESTAMENT
25’23″ Brazil, 2001
Produced by: Associação Cultural Videobrasil
Directed by: Alex Gabassi and Marco Del Fiol
One of the pioneers of video art in Brazil, Rafael França (1957-1991) used the media to create new forms of fiction, with ample autobiographical references. This documentary features footage of the artist, excerpts from works and accounts by artists who were key to his career, such as Mario Ramiro and Hudnilson Jr., with whom he established the 3NÓS3 performance trio in the 1970s. Prelude to an announced death, completed a few days before his death, is part of the extras.
CERTAIN DOUBTS OF WILLIAM WILLIAM KENTRIDGE
51’18″ Brazil, 2000
Produced by: Associação Cultural Videobrasil
Directed by: Alex Gabassi
Films, drawings, installations, theater, opera: one of the leading names in South African contemporary art, William Kentridge combines references and techniques in an unique way. In this documentary, shot in Johannesburg and Brazil, the artist discusses the impact of the landscape and the social contradictions surrounding his work. The film also portrays the assembly of an installation of Kentridge’s for the Contemporary African Art Exhibition (São Paulo, 2000).
