Melanie Bernier - The Popcorn Game (2021)

Will future generations view us as monsters for not doing more to avert catastrophe? How will we explain ourselves? Combining a cherished story from my childhood with sparse, folksy imagery, I comment on the absurdity of my lived experience. I envision where this moment will lead us. In The Popcorn Game , I’m cast as my future self, an anxious and lonely woman with many regrets. Under shelter one dark, stormy night, the Crone is called upon to entertain. –Melanie Bernier 

Duration : 3m
Maturity Level : all

Sue Montoya - Change Atlas (excerpt) (2019)

Development perpetuates the seemingly endless cycle of modernity and gentrification at the cost of local communities. The geopolitics and history of places emerge throughout my work in the form of photographs, sculptures, videos, and zines. My research draws on architecture, feminism, ecology, and labor (physical and emotional) as means to investigate multiple paradigms and their contribution to the production of places. I hope to create actionable plans, conversations, imaginaries for tackling the climate crisis with new imaginaries in light of the catastrophic imagery already found in the public psyche around climate change. –Sue Montoya 

Duration : 4m
Maturity Level : all

Tiare Ribeaux & Jody Stillwater - Cyanovisions (2020)

Cyanovisions as a video project explores our relationship as humans to Cyanobacteria in an age of climate collapse. Cyanobacteria are one of the most ancient life forms, a species that was responsible for first creating oxygen on our planet through photosynthesis. In an alternative narrative to the dominance over nature that we have been living in as a global society, Cyanovisions posits potentials for biological hybridity and indigenous knowledge that recognize the inextricable relationship of human lifespans to those of other organisms. –Tiare Ribeaux

Duration : 5m
Maturity Level : all

Vivian Vivas - Elision (2022)

The micro pace of the film forces the audience to see and observe a single phenomenon, to use their senses in a hyper-aware state, in which they become conscious of empty, unfamiliar space in a formerly unseen experience. The diver, dressed in toxic green, is constantly exhaling but never inhaling - forcing the viewer to reflect on their own existence. How does the shifting environment affect our psyche? In what ways do melancholy and mourning enter our daily emotional lives? Will we choose to rescue ourselves? –Vivian Vivas 

Duration : 2m
Maturity Level : all

Climate Art Awards

Discover the nominated videos from the Frankenthaler Climate Art Awards on their dedicated Channel

Duration : 41s
Maturity Level : all

Armed and Happy by Fantastic Little Splash

Fantastic little splash — is a collective comprising journalist/artist Lera Malchenko and artist/director Oleksandr Hants. Collective combines art practice and media studies. a fantastic little splash is interested in utopias and dystopia, the collective imagination and its incarnations, projections, delusions, and uncertainties. The video "Armed and Happy", is one of the episodes of the series Armed and Dangerous, focuses on the emotionality of social media and its role in the militarization of Ukrainian society

Duration : 5m
Maturity Level : all

Circulation (2020) by Oleksiy Radynski

Duration : 11m
Maturity Level : all

Letter to a Turtledove (2020) by Dana Kavelina

One of the crucial sources for this work by Dana Kavelina is the anonymous five-hour documentary To Watch the War (2018), a piece of found-footage filmmaking in its own right. Letter to a Turtledove is thus a second-degree artistic appropriation of amateur footage shot during the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, recombined into a surreal anti-war film-poem. The war videos are interspersed with Kavelina’s own animated segments, staged mise-en-scènes, and archival footage of the Donbas from the 1930s (when the region became a hotspot for Stalinist industrialization of the Soviet Union, and of heated class warfare) onwards. There’s an actual poem at the film’s center: a monologue spoken off-screen, authored by Kavelina herself. This piece of writing encapsulates the multitude of traumas, grievances, horrors, dreams, and hallucinations that have descended upon the Donbass region since its invasion by Russia in 2014. Still, numerous elements of this multitude originate from long before the war had actually broken out.

Duration : 20m
Maturity Level : all

Notes from underground (2016) by Uli Golub

The film is depicting the daily life of a character who’s running away from frustrating reality. Deceived by social roles and human relations, frightened by riots and military unrest in the country, this man lives cloistered in his apartment, resembling a Noah’s Ark, but instead of animals, stuffed with all kinds of objects and belongings. Step by step the viewer gets sucked into this world, where objects reign and are the only salvation in this constantly changing precarious world. This is a collaged narrative, composed of real events, personal stories, media propaganda, and imagined doomsday nightmares. Thus, through a very personal narrative, the current trauma and distress of contemporary society are revealed.

Duration : 13m
Maturity Level : all

HOW ARE YOU?

Ukrainian Artists answer this question with their visionary works. Discover their dedicated "How Are You?" channel on ikonoTV curated by Kateryna Filyuk. Thanks to our Partners the Ukrainian Institute in Kyiv and Momentum Worldwide in Berlin showing the videos also at the Zionskirche in Berlin. And please support Ukrainian Artists [https://linktr.ee/ikonotv.how_are_you]

Duration : 20s
Maturity Level : all

What makes us Human? by Nikita Kravtsov

Ukrainian artist Nikita Kravtsov is sharing his statement on "What makes us human" in times of war. With his drawing practice, we meditate with him and reflect on the actual dramatic situation in his homeland. This original drawing is for "The War of the Mushrooms", a book launching in English and very soon in German. Together with writer Andrei Kurkov, they were inspired by the eponymous folk tale, a popular classic in Slavic cultures. They both reimagine the tale with scenes from Russia’s current war on Ukraine. The revenue from the book’s sale will be sent to support the defense of Ukraine.

Duration : 15m
Maturity Level : all

Angela Lyn, On the Edge of Time by Michael Schindhelm

Film director Michael Schindhelm features the work and life of Angela Lyn, a Swiss artist of Anglo-Chinese origin, in the advent of her major exhibition held at Villa Arconati-FAR, a baroque palazzo situated on the outskirts of Milan. The artist’s journey weaving past and present, east and west, art and life - unfolds within the time-worn rooms focussing on what connects rather than what separates us as human beings. Camera and editing Yawen Yeo. Post-production Stefano Cravero. Text and voice Angela Lyn.

Duration : 15m
Maturity Level : all

Sandro Botticelli, the birth of Venus

Known as the Birth of Venus, the composition actually shows the goddess of love and beauty arriving on land, on the island of Cyprus, born of the sea spray and blown there by the winds, Zephyr and, perhaps, Aura. The goddess is standing on a giant scallop shell, as pure and as perfect as a pearl. She is met by a young woman, who is sometimes identified as one of the Graces or as the Hora of spring, and who holds out a cloak covered in flowers. This masterpiece by Sandro Botticelli is located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Duration : 9m
Maturity Level : all

DON’T WORRY... by Oksana Karpovych

Oksana Karpovych’s film, "Don’t Worry, the doors will open" was shot over summer 2018 on elektrychkas, typical Soviet commuter trains that travel between the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and small provincial towns. This film invites us to share a ride with working class, mostly marginalized passengers and vendors. Following a number of people from one grimy wagon to another, from station to station, from day to night, we are immersed in the daily struggles of their lives. Filmed during a war time, the film is a look at the human condition and an intimate point of view on history of independent Ukraine as it is experienced by the common people. We do not see images of war in the film but feel its presence in the air penetrating our character’s minds and hearts. Don’t Worry, the Doors Will Open is an atmospheric and intensely human portrait of Ukrainian society on the move.

Duration : 1h 15m
Maturity Level : all

What makes us Human? by Vadim Zakharov

In “BAFF BAFF! What Are The Politicians Talking About”, Vadim Zakharov reads out loud more than 1000 non-verbal words, most of which have been found in the magazines “Mickey Mouse” (German editions) and also taken from the books “Tintin The Mysterious Star” and “Asterix & Obelix The Laurels of Caesar”. The words collected in the non-verbal vocabulary have no meaning, but only phonetically reflect certain events: someone has fainted (BLIEP!), a glass has broken (CRACK! CLIRR!), a helicopter has crashed into a cupola (KAROMMS!), a museum has collapsed (CRACK! THUNDER! CRIME!). The Reader (Vadim Zakharov), wearing a white shirt and a tie, recites these words seriously and forcefully. The image of a politician is created, a public figure who professionally and convincingly is ready to say something on any occasion. At the same time, we see that these are just empty words - bubbles that float away as soon as they reach our ears. The film highlights the absurdity of what we see and hear every day on television and the internet. At the same time, reading non-verbal words can be perceived as reading poetry… The original Exhibition version is 65 min long.

Duration : 4m
Maturity Level : all

"Artists convey feelings, not politicians"

How many times have you heard a President in war addressing himself to Artists? There are 2 kinds of leaders: some, and unfortunately, the most, need to show muscles, bombs, tanks, and destruct all by bringing humanity to darkness. We call them tyrants. And others, super rare, like President Zelensky who asks Artists to help and bring emotions into the discourse to empower the universal value of freedom and protect Democracy. We, at ikonoTV, as an Art only VOD platform, felt the duty to share this address of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the official opening of *This is Ukraine: Defending Freedom* organized PinchukArtCentre and Victor Pinchuk Foundation at Venice Biennale. April 21, 2022. Some food for thoughts.

Duration : 4m
Maturity Level : all

What makes us Human? by G R

Late reporter Shireen Abu Aqleh was a great journalist, respected by her peers. She is now yet another unfortunate fallen figure because of her fight for freedom of speech, and one of the very few women to receive official honors from the Palestinian Authority. Portrayed here by the artist G R with his unique dynamic power drawing style for his A R K art project. This is how we will remember her, a great human being.

Duration : 1m
Maturity Level : all

Guggenheim Museum - Collecting Abstraction

Why is it important for the Guggenheim Museum to collect and preserve art? To Guggenheim Museum founder Solomon R. Guggenheim and founding director Hilla Rebay abstraction was not just a radical art form. They also saw its potential as an immensely powerful tool for better understanding and changing the world. When Rebay introduced Vasily Kandinsky’s work to Guggenheim around 1929, she set the course of Guggenheim’s collection, and ultimately the collecting legacy of the museum he would later establish. The centrality of abstraction to the art institution’s approach to collecting is the heart of a new Guggenheim documentary, Collecting Abstraction: The Multiple Narratives of Modernism. Collecting Abstraction journeys through the decades-long history of abstraction in the Guggenheim’s collection and iconic exhibitions, illustrating an enduring commitment to the artists of our time, the multiple perspectives art offers, and the conversations artworks can stimulate. Through open and honest dialogue with various voices from the Guggenheim Museum, Collecting Abstraction demonstrates the ways in which the founding principles of the Guggenheim’s collection continue to guide its present and future. Directors: Stephen J. Grant & Stephan Knuesel, Editor: Miao Wang

Duration : 17m
Maturity Level : all

Ron Arad - Reverse Again

Shifting Vision produced a short film, directed by Giulia Magno, exploring the artistic process behind the creation of celebrated artist, architect, and designer Ron Arad’s first NFT artworks. Shot in the artist’s London home and studio, the film retraces Arad’s long-standing fascination with the iconic Fiat 500 — from the childhood memories of his father’s car to the idea of crushing Fiat 500s into “paintings” (or Pressed Flowers as he affectionately titled them). The film focuses on the evolution of Arad’s practice from physical to digital processes in light of the current discourse around the impact of NFT technology on the art world.

Duration : 9m
Maturity Level : all

Ron Arad - Reverse Again

Discover the full version on Shifting Vision’s dedicated Channel here on ikonoTV where Ron Arad brings us in his new NFT world

Duration : 34s
Maturity Level : all

Moshe Safdie - For Everyone A Garden

Discover the full version of Moshe Safdie’s mission to bring a garden to everyone on Shifting Vision’s dedicated Channel here on ikonoTV

Duration : 51s
Maturity Level : all

JARDIM DO ÉDEN by Joana Vasconcelos

Discover once more the magic of Joana Vasconcelos’ very special Garden of Eden. The glowing field of flowers is made from compact fluorescent light bulbs, plastic flowers, synchronous micro-motors, transparent polychrome acrylic discs, and a low-tech electric system. The artificial flowers emerge from cylinders that are coated in black Lycra. Inside the black Lycra cylinders, there are lights, motors, and rotating discs that activate the lights and give them a similar appearance to the glowing and flickering displays of optical fiber lighting.

Duration : 2m
Maturity Level : all

The art market speaks a kind of Esperanto by Ireen Zielonka

Ireen Zielonka is an artist, born 1981 in Berlin, Germany. Currently, she lives and works in Berlin. There is hardly a drawing of Zielonka’s in which no philosophical thought is the starting point for an allegorical representation. Her work posits the interactions between society and the individual and the unelected arrested being with conventions, traditions, and origins. Reflection, inquiry, and pursuit of knowledge are mandatory as the scouts to act confidently and maturely, she adds.

Duration : 6m
Maturity Level : all

The whole art world has changed dramatically by Ann Noël

Born in Plymouth, England, in 1944, has lived and worked in Berlin since 1980. Her wide-ranging talents as a painter, graphic designer, printmaker, photographer, and performance artist bear witness to a rare combination of creative ingenuity, bold experimentation, and up-to-date technical skills. In addition, she has had the good fortune to know and work with some of the more interesting artists of our time. Her work has been exhibited internationally and includes recent projects at the Biennales in Venice, Liverpool, and Lodz, Poland. She is also the author of six artist’s books published by Rainer Verlag in Berlin.

Duration : 7m
Maturity Level : all