In the Quiet Moments: Films by Rosalind Nashashibi

Join us at e-flux Screening Room on Thursday, May 18 at 7pm for In the Quiet Moments, a screening of selected films by Rosalind Nashashibi that will be followed by an in-person conversation with the artist. 

Nashashibi’s filmic body of work blends everyday observations with explorations of cinematic enchantment. Adopting an approach characterized by slow pace, static camera, and situated gaze, her films presented in this screening span the diverse cultural terrains of Palestine, Scotland, Lithuania, and the United States. At a cursory glance, Nashashibi’s films might seem overly quiet, almost somber; however, they reveal the subtleties and singularities that reside within the ordinary. She encourages viewers to participate in a distinct way of looking at the world, finding inspiration and beauty in the seemingly mundane aspects of daily life, and reintroducing a sense of slowness and contemplation.

Films

Open Day (2001, 12 minutes)
Six scenes in London set to different pieces of music that add a fictional screen or act as counterpoint to the action.

Midwest (2002, 12 minutes)    
Made during an artist-residency project in Omaha, Nebraska, Midwest captures aspects of the daily lives of the town’s residents. Passing from day to night, the film shows groups of people loitering on the street and sitting in a café, while images of run-down houses and cars suggest a neglected urban environment. Within this record of ordinary life, the artist brings out the melancholic side of a community which seems to be both drifting along and waiting for something to happen. 

Juniper Set (2004, 1 minute)    
A film loop of train seats with patterned upholstery, echoing the absent bodies, like sculptures of human beings side by side, with a corner of suburbia showing through the train window.

Jack Straw’s Castle (2009, 17 minutes)    
Jack Straw’s Castle uses footage shot in and around a public park, interlacing shots from real life—including sequences shot in a cruising area—with highly theatrical scenarios involving a cast of non-actors.

Electrical Gaza (2015, 17 minutes)    
In Electrical Gaza Nashashibi combines her footage of Gaza and of the fixer, drivers, and translator who accompanied her there, with animated scenes. She presents Gaza as a place from myth; isolated, suspended in time, difficult to access and highly charged.

Vivian’s Garden (2017, 29 minutes)    
Vivian Suter and her mother Elisabeth Wild are two Swiss/Austrian émigré artists living in Panajachel, Guatemala, where they have developed a matriarchal compound in an environment that offers both refuge and terror. Elisabeth is in her nineties and Vivian in her sixties and they are as close as maiden sisters; in fact, the family relationship is shifting: Each is at times mother and daughter to the other. This film takes a close and dreamy look at their artistic, emotional, and economic lives, with their extended householders: Mayan villagers as guardians and home help, and an assortment of dogs. It offers a tender look at an instance of post-colonial complexity.

For more information, contact program@e-flux.com.

Accessibility                
–Two flights of stairs lead up to the building’s front entrance at 172 Classon Avenue.     
–For elevator access, please RSVP to program@e-flux.com. The building has a freight elevator which leads into the e-flux office space. Entrance to the elevator is nearest to 180 Classon Ave (a garage door). We have a ramp for the steps within the space.              
–e-flux has an ADA-compliant bathroom. There are no steps between the Screening Room and this bathroom.