Artists' Film International: Solidarity #4

Note: These films are shown at KINOBOX, first floor, Prostneset Havneterminal, Tromsø.

Artists’ Film International is a partnership of 15 international organisations that celebrates moving-image. Every year, each organisation selects a film from an artist connected to their region, based on a collectively agreed theme.

Branching out from the theme of SOLIDARITY, the films selected reflect on the act of coming together; in friendship, community and resistance.

The two films on show reveal how art and moving-image can be acts of resistance against oppressive systems which seek to remove the freedoms from those already marginalised in our societies.

From Guantanamo Prison Until August 15

Bahar Arfan, 2023, 3:51 mins (Selected by Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan in Exile e.V)

The color orange symbolizes the condemnation and oppression of Afghan women under Taliban rule, and represents the new invisible prison for the people of Afghanistan. To Arfan, orange is the colour she saw in news reports about Guantanamo prison, and later that ISIS covered their victims with orange before killing them.

Bahar Arfan was born in 2000 in Tehran. She completed her studies in her homeland and entered Kabul University in 2018. After the fall of the republic, Bahar immigrated to Germany and is currently a student at the University Of Art and Design Offenbach.

Due to the situation of war and significant gender inequality in Afghanistan, her artistic endeavors have focused on violence against women. She is now working on a new project to expose the patriarchal culture in the society, asking questions such as why are women imprisoned in Afghanistan and why are women subjected to a variety of forms of violence in general?

Etched in Light

Cassils, 2024, 9:38 mins (Selected by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, US)

Taking place on Trans Day of Visibility (March 31st) in Washington, D.C, the performance Etched in Light makes visible the ongoing political realities of transgender rights in America using large scale collective cyanotype. Over 100 performers gathered together and were instructed to lie down on four large canvases in choreographed positions. These canvases were then subsequently transformed into cyanotypes with the imprints of the performers’ bodies left behind.By including performers from across the country and around the world, this project cultivated community and networks that will endure through times of systemic failure. By lying down together, the performers embraced their strength and care for one another, creating a powerful symbol of solidarity.

CASSILS (Los Angeles/ NYC) is a Canadian transgender artist who makes their own body the material and protagonist of their performances. Cassils' art contemplates the history(s) of LGBTQI+ violence, representation, struggle, and empowerment. For Cassils, performance is a form of social sculpture: Drawing from the idea that bodies are formed in relation to forces of power and social expectations, Cassils' work investigates historical contexts to examine the present moment.

Artists’ Film International (AFI) is a partnership between: argos centre for audiovisual arts, Brussels, Belgium; Ballroom Marfa, Texas, USA; Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan in eXiLe e.V., (CCAA in EXiLe), Frankfurt, Germany; Cultural Center of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; Forma, London, UK; Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (GAMeC), Bergamo, Italy; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, USA; MMAG Foundation, Amman, Jordan; Project 88, Mumbai, India; Sapieha Palace, branch of the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania; Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland; Tromsø Kunstforening/Romssa Dáiddasiida,Tromsø, Norway; Video-Forum of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k), Berlin, Germany.

KINOBOX is a micro-kino, which screens a broad range of works and artistic approaches, selected with consideration for their material, political and aesthetic sensibilities. Central to our curation is this belief in the importance of artists moving-image to question how we consume and are consumed by our media landscape.