Personal Space is a collection of five new artist cinema works by Janet Lilo, Tanu Gago, Natasha Matila-Smith, Campbell Patterson (New Zealand) and Atong Atem (Australia).
Commissioned by CIRCUIT and curated by Serena Bentley, each artist was asked to respond to a series of questions about the idea of home. The concept was prompted in part by New Zealand-born curator Serena Bentley's 12-year residence in Melbourne and also from Bentley observing events from afar, including the recent Christchurch shooting.
The five artists have all responded to the brief in diverse ways: Natasha Matila-Smith invites us into her bedroom to reveal her innermost thoughts, Campbell Patterson performs seemingly absurd actions in orange juice soaked underpants, and Atong Atem maps her journey from Ethiopia to Melbourne. Traversing diverse themes including the negative effects of social media, the volatile nature of the housing market and migration, the works in this year’s commission program tease out the loaded and complex concept of home.
The CIRCUIT Artist Cinema Commissions are an annual programme produced by CIRCUIT. Each year CIRCUIT invites an internationally-based Curator-at-large to conceptualise a theme and nominate 5 artists to each respond with a short work for cinema. Previously commissioned works have shown at Whitechapel Gallery (UK), Berlinale (Germany) and Rotterdam Film Festival.
For Distribution enquiries contact: Mark Williams, director@circuit.org.nz
