Art for Art’s Sake, the collaborative screening programme by AV-arkki – Centre for Finnish Media Art and Cinema Orion continues with the third season on Tuesday, August 29 2023 at 17.00 in Cinema Orion. The theme for the fall season 2023 is “Reconstruction Site”. The season opens with a special showcase of Estonian expanded cinema, Time Quartet.
Time Quartet is an expanded cinema project consisting of four artists’ films exploring human nature through time, language and empathy. The films are Kissing Your Tongue by Anna Hints (Smoke Sauna Sisterhood) and Tushar Prakash; In the Storm of Roses by Liina Siib, Cellula Filia by Piibe Kolka, and After Betelgeuse by Len Murusalu.
The films, combined with live performative and visual arts elements, as well as the participation of filmmakers, constitute a unique shared experience for each screening. Produced by Len Murusalu (ChronoLens), Time Quartet premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in 2022 and celebrated the launch of the newly established PÖFF Expanded programme. The upcoming expanded cinema screening will be the Finnish premiere.
All films have English subtitles, and the q&a will be in English.
Art for Art’s Sake combines artists’ moving image, media art, and experimental film from Finland and abroad, both classics and contemporary titles. The screening programme is supported by the Kone Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Education, and the City of Helsinki. The curatorial team consists of Diego Ginartes, Sepideh Rahaa, Tytti Rantanen, and Azar Saiyar. The next screenings of the fall season take place on October 17, November 14, and December 12. The admission for screenings is free – you can book your free ticket from the Cinema Orion’s webstore.
Time Quartet:
Anna Hints & Tushar Prakash: Kissing Your Tongue (14’)
Two lovers, separated by languages, confess to each other in their own native tongues.
Liina Siib: In the Storm of Roses (20’)
‘In the Storm of Roses’ reflects our time through the life choices of retired Estonian nurse Helgi Kuusik. We see her in a dream-like rose garden in Southern Estonia, which she established years ago thanks to working in Finnish hospitals and commuting between the two linguistically close, yet economically unequal countries.
The brief scenes of her idyllic rural garden resemble Victorian-era paintings while being linked with Helgi’s visit to her daughter’s family, who ended up living on the other side of the Gulf of Finland.
Piibe Kolka: Cellula Filia (20’)
A conversation through time between a woman and her great-grandmother.
Piibe Kolka uses PXL2000 toy camera to record pixelated visuals and various messages on audio cassettes in an attempt to establish a time travelling communication. The film probes an epigenetic hypothesis that individual life experiences could influence biological inheritance and gene expressions. The result is a science fictional play between generations, addressing life histories, inherited doubt and the search for possible adventures.
Len Murusalu: After Betelgeuse (19’)
A journey through the past and future myths of the dormant Livonian language.
World War II, mass deportations to Siberia and marginalisation during the Russian occupation caused the extinction of the language of the indigenous people of Livonia. Narrated in Livonian and inspired by a folk song as well as Finnic mythology, the story seeks hope in the perishing time and memories forgotten.
Art for Art’s Sake: Time Quartet, August 29 2023, Cinema Orion
More information: Cinema Orion
AV-arkki has promoted and distributed Finnish media art since 1989. AV-arkki’s promotional efforts have made the artists’ participation in this event possible. If you want to hear the latest news from our distribution, subscribe to our newsletter!