John Smith: Worst Case Scenario ~ Films from 1975-2003 at The Weserburg Museum

Written by Clarence Hollander Tuesday, 24 January 2012 01:39

BREMEN.- The exhibition is taking place within the scope of the 17th Internationales Bremer Symposium zum Film “Was ist Kino? Auswählen, Aufführen Erfahren” (What Is Cinema? Select, Present, Experience), in collaboration with the University of Bremen and City 46. The British artist John Smith (*1952 in London) has been making experimental films for about three decades now. With their calculated idiom and ironic playfulness they count among the most important works of the contemporary film avant-garde. They are puzzling, sharp-witted, and above all funny. John Smith challenges us not to take anything we hear or say at face value, and in doing so puts the criteria of fact and fiction to the test. Focus is placed on his creative treatment of sound and image and the lightness and irony with which he creates space for viewers to rethink their own perception.

John Smith’s films repeatedly shift between the contexts of cinema and museum. The selection of the individual works within the scope of the exhibition and a supporting program that places other works in various spatial situations—besides the museum space, in the cinema and in public space as well—refer to the range of possibilities of perceiving filmic works. The content-related core of Smith’s works, reflecting on perception patterns, is furthermore taken up and presented at the various venues.

The exhibition was developed in close cooperation with students from the University of Bremen in the masters program Communication of Art and Culture.

John Smith was born in 1952 in the London borough of Walthamstow and studied film at the Royal College of Art, London.

Since 1972, more than forty films, videos, and installations by Smith have been presented worldwide at cinemas and galleries, and he has received numerous film festival awards. Smith’s works were inspired by the emerging Conceptual Art of the 1970s.

His fascination with the fundamental power of film, narration, and the spoken work permeate his works. They are defined by a subtle and ironic idiom that enables Smith to explain and reveal the impact of language and narration in the medium of film. His works dissolve the boundary between documentation and fiction, and between representation and abstraction. John Smith lives and works in London. He teaches at the University of East London. The Tanya Leighton Gallery in Berlin represents him in Germany.

The Weserburg Museum, Bremen’s museum of modern art—one of the largest museums in Germany with an international reputation—is located in the middle of the Weser River in the heart of the Hanseatic city. The institution does not only consider itself in the middle of the river geographically: constantly alternating presentations of works from famous private collections as well as special exhibitions show the dynamic development of modern art from the sixties to the present. A supporting program consisting of weekly guided tours, concerts, lectures, performances, discussions with artists, and film screenings make the Weserburg one of the liveliest places in town.

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