Figures of Speech

Figures of Speech

A programme of experimental film and documentary, from the last 25 years, reveals how artists have used the voice (its presence and absence) as a tool to examine  the complexity of human relationships.

Experimenting with form, technique and narrative, these filmmakers have utilised iterative speech patterns, dissonant utterances, mute gestures and an array of linguistic propositions to articulate concerns around exile, disorientation, and loss as well as commemoration, celebration and recuperation.

Featuring works by 10 artists living and working in London, the programme features films and video works by Isaac Julien, Mona Hatoum and Erika Tan, amongst others. This series of exhibitions and events explores the multiple meanings of freedom in contemporary society.

‘Figures of Speech’ is a Film and Video Umbrella Project curated by Melanie Keen as part of ‘Free to Air’, funded by London Councils.

Duration 90 minutes.

Programme includes:

Mona Hatoum, Measures of Distance, 1988

Alia Syed, The Watershed, 1994

Inge Blackman “Campbell X”, Legacy, 2006

Nina Mangalanayagan, Lacuna, 2009

Keith Piper, Go West Young Man, 1996

George Chakravarthi, Genesis, 1999

Isaac Julien, Territories, 1984

Zineb Sedira, Autobiographical Patterns, 1996

Nisha Duggal, Machine, 2007

Erika Tan, Exercises in Phonological Stretching from PIDGIN: interrupted transmission, 2001