VIDEONALE.scope #1

16.11.- 24.11.2013

Retrospectives: Birgit Hein and James Benning
With Videonale Scope, Videonale Bonn opens a new series of events dealing with the crossover and the interfaces between film and video art. The programme, curated by Daniel Kothenschulte, will start with retrospectives of two world-famous film artists who have influenced the film avant-garde for some forty years: Berlin-born Birgit Hein and American James Benning.

Both of them will be there to discuss their works with the spectators. However much their positions may differ – Hein, with her collages and their frequent explosive cuts, was a pioneer of found-footage film, while Benning is known for his long, austere landscape shots – they have much in common: They were both born in 1942 and were successful in the experimental field of structural film; both drew upon the rich aesthetic pool afforded by the early cinema, and, as university teachers, inspired numerous, now well-known film makers.