Almost Cinema @ Vooruit

Vooruit is a famous historic art complex in Ghent, Belgium. Built a century ago, it witnessed the socialist revolution going on at the time, adding symbolic value to the architectural monument. Literally meaning forward in English, it is used for any artistic purposes: concert, exhibitions, projections, debates, parties, etc. and there is even a trendy café, frequented by the coolest people in town.

From October 8th to 20th, the Film Festival Gent was having its 39th edition. Each year, about 130'000 spectators watch 100 features and 30 shorts films from all across the world. Since 2001, it is organizing  the World Soundtrack Awards for the best compositors.

Twelve days on the border between film, media art and music. - Almost Cinema

Almost Cinema is a co-production between Vooruit and the Ghent Film Festival for 12 days. It starts where traditional film stops. The artists are influenced by the cinematic medium but leave the beaten track, opting for new unknown paths instead. They play with elements of the cinema in an unexpected way in different installations, projections, exhibitions, etc. which challenges the visitors to take a look at the cinema from a new point of view.

Yesterday, October 20th was the closing party of Almost Cinema and ESN invited us for a visit together with other students there. It took us about 1h30 to go through a only few artists exhibits. Among the most interesting pieces, a few deserve more exposure:

Transporter

Tranporter by Lawrence Malstaf. This was two conveyor belts running very slowly in opposite directions. Rolls and wheels hidden underneath add a tactile dimension to the experience. I got my back massaged during the 3 rides I took on his machine. This large mobile environments dealing with space and orientation use the visitor as a co-actor. Great!

Solace

Solace by Nicky Assmann. This is an installation that creates crazy patterns and colors via giant soap films. The visitor can interact with the colors by softly blowing on them. The soap refracts the light as the water from the mixture rolls down, creating a fluid vision mostly reserved for hallucinations. Gravity eventually pulls the liquid downward, creating a dance of color and light until the film eventually breaks apart (or when some ignorant children barely barely touch it).

In Transit by HC Gilje. It's a 15 m long animated light installation, located in the Vooruit's attic. It's composed of a series of identical white frames and a white light moving over them across the space, over and over again, lighting them up but also animating their shadows.

Yesterday, the Ghent Film Festival was closing with 'Passion' by Brian De Palma. lberto Iglesias was chosen as Film Composer of the Year 2012, for his soundtracks for ‘The Monk’, ‘The Skin I Live In' and ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ (film which also gave him the Best Original Film Score of the Year award). In the meantime, Almost Cinema threw its own closing party with a projection of the documentary Sound of Belgium, and live music by De Ledebirds and the French touch of the Mireilles.