Bristol, 3 – 25 June 2006

A month long programme of exhibitions, screenings and discussion exploring the moving image and archive taking place across Bristol at A Bond, Watershed and Arnolfini. Ghosting has developed in response to the growth of contemporary artists’ interest in archives. Ghosting focuses on artists working with film and video and the ways in which the archive itself, or archival or found materials have been central to the practice of a number of practitioners whose work deals with issues of identity, memory or history.

GHOSTING COMMISSIONS: ANSUMAN BISWAS, HAROLD OFFEH and ERIKA TAN
3 – 25 June,
Wednesday – Sunday 12 noon – 6 pm, Free
A Bond, Smeaton Road, Cumberland Basin, Bristol 0117 9257010

An exhibition of three visually and orally rich moving image installations examining Hindu funeral and agricultural ceremonies, black representation in early cinema, and hidden narratives in films made during the British Empire. Ghosting’s starting point was an invitation to three artists to undertake research in three different archives holding moving image material in the South West. Ansuman Biswas researched the collection at the South West Film and Television Archive, Plymouth. Harold Offeh examined material at the Bill Douglas Centre, University of Exeter, and Erika Tan at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, Bristol.

GHOSTING: IN THE DARK
3 – 25 June,
10 am – 8 pm, Daily, Free
Dark Studio, Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol,
The Atlas Group, Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska, Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, Johan Grimonprez, Susan Hiller, Uriel Orlow, The Otolith Group and Fiona Tan.

This daily programme presents a series of films in which contemporary artists have responded to the notion of the archive, either by assembling or fabricating a collection of images or by directly recycling archival material; opening up questions about identity, memory and history. Each film in the programme screens once daily

GHOSTING EVENTS: INVESTIGATIONS INTO ART, FILM AND THE ARCHIVE

The exhibitions are accompanied by a screening of Black Audio Collective’s Handsworth Songs, a presentation by Patrick Keiller of his latest project The City of the Future, and an Archive Study Day: a day of talks about creative uses of archives. All Ghosting events are taking place at Watershed.

GHOSTING PUBLICATION

A new book accompanying Ghosting drawing together a collection of essays and case studies on the role of the archive within contemporary artists’ film and video practice is available from the Arnolfini Bookshop or online from Cornerhouse, www.cornerhouse.org