On Screen consists of a series of screenings of artists’ films at De Uitkijk in Amsterdam – the Netherlands’ first avant-garde cinema. The screenings will take place on Friday evenings and start at 21:00. Each evening will be dedicated to the oeuvre of a single artist whose works are part of Tlön Projects’ imaginary collection. The programme was compiled by curators Chris Bestebreurtje and Petra Kuipers in close cooperation with the artists.
Although video art is commonly displayed in white cubes, with or without other media, we have consciously opted for a black cube. Watching a film together in a cinema is one of the few collective experiences left in our individualised society. Sat in silence with a group, watching the same film provides connection. And an opportunity for dialogue, as afterwards Sam Steverlynck, curator at S.M.A.K. in Ghent, will talk to the artists. Besides a Q&A after the artists’ talk, the audience can also exchange ideas whilst enjoying a drink in the lobby.
Bani Abidi (1971) lives and works in her home town Karachi and in Berlin. She draws, photographs, films and builds installations. Her work often centres on the founding of Pakistan and the latter’s search for its own identity after decades of conflict and geopolitical tension. Although India and Pakistan were historically and socio-economically close, both countries started emphasising their unicity after the partition in 1947.
Abidi analyses various forms of nationalism, patriotism and traces of post-colonial heritage. Other common themes in her work include identity, migration, borders, displacement and various kinds of intercultural exchange and diplomacy. A good example of this being The Song (2022), in which an elderly immigrant misses the chaos and noise of his homeland in his modern flat in Berlin and comes up with an ingenious solution.
Abidi tackles major, existential questions using small observations, anecdotes or details from daily life. She translates these questions into often short, dense films characterised by imagination, humour and a dash of absurdity. Her work displays empathy, humanism and also often poetic resistance.