Film in Space: An Exhibition of Film and Expanded Cinema Selected by Guy Sherwin at Camden Arts Centre

An often neglected medium of art production, this new group exhibition selected by British artist-filmmaker Guy Sherwin, aims to focus on film art, and more specifically Expanded Cinema: a film movement which came to prominence in Britain in the early 1970s. The movement was closely associated with the London Film-Makers’ Co-operative, an organisation based in North London and set up in 1966 by artist-filmmakers to exhibit and produce experimental film work that challenged mainstream cinema. Sherwin worked at the LFMC in its early years and was strongly influenced by the films he experienced. Key works from this period will be shown along with pieces by younger artists who are continuing to experiment with the versatility of analogue media, as well as others who have started to take on board the advent of digital technologies. Throughout the exhibition there is an emphasis on film, light and sound, as a material to be constantly re-worked and manipulated. Traditionally, works of expanded cinema were not produced for exhibitions but made as live projection events often using multiple 16mm projectors and performed in alternative spaces, largely bypassing cinemas and galleries all-together. This exhibition includes several film works from the period that have been adapted from live performances to cyclical installations, changing them in unpredictable ways and suggesting new possibilities for the work. Film in Space highlights the unique qualities of film: the hand-made, tactile and physical awareness of the material, and many of the works evoke the transience of the natural world with the affects of light, space and movement on the environment.