The Swiss nomadic video art platform VIDEO WINDOW will be visiting the Cinemateca do MAM of Rio de Janeiro in mid-July 2022, where it will present a diverse screening programme devoted to the subject of the metropolis entitled URBAN STORIES.
At an evening event (PANORAMA), 25 well-known artists — 21 from Switzerland and four from Brazil — will show 33 videos covering urban locations right around the globe — in Europe, Brazil, South Africa and Asia. And individual projections and artist’s talks (FOCUS) with Veronika Spierenburg (CH), Marco Chaves (BR) and Dias & Riedweg (BR/ CH) are planned for three further evenings. Their videos focus on aspects of the city of Rio de Janeiro, illustrating the importance of the urban realm as a setting for art.
At the same time, «URBAN STORIES» will surprise its audience in ways that encourage it to critically address the urbanization of our planet.
The intriguingly choreographed programme presents a variety of genres and aspects (PANORAMA) on the subject of major cities. They raise questions of social and cultural identity, individual and collective memory and economic and social relationships, all with an eye to the future.
Three events (FOCUS) will seek to complement the breadth of the programme by closely examining and presenting individual positions and videos. In addition to their video contributions to the programme, which address such aspects of the City of Rio de Janeiro as architecture, tourism and social marginalisation in the favelas, Veronika Spierenburg, Marcos Chaves and Dias & Riedweg will present further selected works that shed more light on their artistic positions and interests.
The interest of artists in the urban realm increased in the late 1990s as the development of digital formats made video more accessible and simplified the process of working away from the studio. At the same time, rapidly accelerating urbanisation increased the significance of major cities right around the globe. Today, cities are the most important form of settlement worldwide. In 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will be city dwellers. And this degree of urbanisation is particularly high in Brazil, where around 90% of the population already lives in urban areas.
The objective of the programme URBAN STORIES is to find unconventional and surprising ways of contributing food for thought and stimulating the discussion of concepts for the global development of the cities in which, in future, most of us will live.
The presentation at MAM de Rio de Janeiro is supported by: Swissnex in Brazil, Consulado Geral da Suíça no Rio de Janeiro, Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council, Tarbaca Indigo Foundation, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, Kanton Uri
Information on the Screening Programme URBAN STORIES
- PANORAMA
Screening of all 33 videos
Saturday, 16 July 2022
Welcome 16:30
Part 1: 17:00
Pause. Talks, snacks and drinks
Part 2: 19:30
Talks, snacks and drinks: until 22:00
- FOCUS
Individual Screenings and Artist’s Talks with:
19 July (Tuesday, 18:00–20:00): Veronika Spierenburg
20 July (Wednesday, 18:00–20:00): Marcos Chaves
21 July (Thursday, 18:00–20:00): Dias & Riedweg
- WHERE:
MAM – Cinemateca do Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (adicionar hyperlink: https://mam.rio)
Auditório Cosme Alves Netto
Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, 85 – Parque do Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro
Entrance free
For further information about the programe and the artists, please consult PANORAMA and FOCUS