Online Film Screening
Somerset House Studios

Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy | not/nowhere presents: Film Screening

FREE
25 Feb - 07 Mar 2021
Online Film Screening

Artist workers' co-operative not/nowhere present a film screening in response to the themes of Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy. 

As part of not/nowhere's ongoing programme supporting new media practices, the collective curates an evening of film. Through an open call, not/nowhere invited members of “community n/n”, their lab and workshop subscription programme, to contribute short films that resonate with the notion of health and wellbeing. The applicants were encouraged to explore the personal, communal and environmental implications of the provocation. 

Selected by not/nowhere producers, the chosen short films will be broadcast live and then available to watch for the remaining duration of Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy.  

Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy is a dynamic programme of new commissions, films, workshops, and conversations considering both our individual health and collective wellbeing by exploring societal and ecological issues that affect both people and planet.   

About not/nowhere

not/nowhere is an artist workers’ cooperative that supports new media practices through workshops, screenings and other programming.

Their mission is to ensure that local artists who use new media in their work can access film and media equipment, and acquire the training to use these machines creatively. They are committed to Black and POC artists exploring new possibilities for owning the means of production of our work and finding sustainability in our practice. 

not/nowhere’s additional focus is to provide infrastructural support for artists working in all mediums, and enfranchise people living or working in London to take pleasure in expressing themselves creatively. 
 

Hyper Functional, Ultra Healthy is kindly supported by the Adonyeva Foundation.

Selected Films

Wuhan Punk – Chris Zhongtian Yuan

Wuhan Punk is Chris Zhongtian Yuan's first work ‘returning’ to their hometown Wuhan from London. The project is a mental journey into memories, stories, investigations, and fascinations surrounding a disappeared former Wuhan Punk musician. The project looks to explore the possibility of understanding an estranged place through its rumoured past. As we try to archive the immediate present in our confined spaces, the past keeps haunting us like ghosts. Individual memory becomes collective reminiscence; collective trauma disintegrates into individual nostalgia. 

Chris Zhongtian Yuan lives and works in London. Guided by an immersive period of research and performative preparation, Yuan's recent video and sound works have explored the entanglement of ecology, human construction and migration, the supernatural reconstruction of colonial narratives, and the blur between collective trauma and personal nostalgia surrounding the absent body. Recent presentations include: Wuhan Punk, Film & Video Umbrella, London (2020); Banal Objects, DIY Aesthetics, OCAT Institute, Beijing (2020); 1815, K11, Wuhan (2020); Counterfictions, Architectural Association (2019); City of Objects, Venice Architecture Biennale (2018). Yuan is the recipient of the 2020 Aesthetica Emerging Art Prize.

Commissioned and produced by Film & Video Umbrella.

Ghosts – Ella Frost

Ghosts is a short naturalism film depicting the filmmaker's existence in winter lockdown in London. With words from Monique Todd, the film lightly explores boredom, isolation and nature. The film was shot and edited on an iPhone SE.

Ella Frost’s work is informed by the urge to tell the truth and warp the truth simultaneously. Landscapes, intimate moments with friends and family members, their body and the constant questioning of identity count for the majority of their work. They work in film, photography, drawing, fabric and recently skin with tattooing. Their art practice also centres around sexuality, sexual health and marginality, an ongoing dialogue with, and extension to their role as Community Sexual Health Coordinator for West London. Born in London, 1988, Ella Justine Frost lives and works in London, UK.
 

Solastalgia (Lubbock) – Adam Farcus

Solastalgia (Lubbock) is an eco-emotional portrait of the Llano Estacado region, told by citizens of Lubbock, that focuses on water, dust, cotton farming, and the emotions caused by climate change. Solastalgia, a term coined by environmental philosopher Glenn A. Albrecht, is defined as the pain or distress caused by the loss or lack of solace and the sense of desolation connected to the present state of one's home and territory. It is the lived experience of negative environmental change. It is the homesickness you have when you are still at home.

Adam Farcus is a Milwaukee, USA, based activist, artist, curator, feminist, teacher, writer, and burgeoning linguist. Farcus received their M.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, B.F.A. from Illinois State University, and A.A. from Joliet Junior College. Their work addresses the emotional ramifications of climate change and social justice. Farcus’ work has been exhibited at numerous venues, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, USA; the American University Museum, Washington DC, USA; and Advance Art Museum, Changsha, China. They have lectured on their work at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Performance Studies International 16 conference, among many others. Founded in 2012, Farcus is the director of Lease Agreement, a nomadic curatorial project currently based in Milwaukee.
 

The Masses – Dorothy Allen-Pickard

THE MASSES is a visceral and empathetic portrayal of three South London neighbour’s devotion to their respective religions: Islam, Christianity and Football. It questions how identity is formed and what brings us together and sets us apart.

Dorothy Allen-Pickard is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary theatre-maker from South-East London. In 2019, she received the BFI New Talent Award and was named as one of Broadcast’s Hotshots. Her practice is grounded in a deep interest in other people and a will to bring about social and political change. Her work merges documentary, fictional and theatrical techniques and form, and she is a member of the award-winning multimedia theatre company Breach. She has a particular interest in working with non-professional actors to create semi-autobiographical films. Her work focuses on mental health, disability, multiculturalism, as well as marginalised individuals, communities and experience.

Dorothy's short The Mess was awarded with Best UK Short at Open City Doc Fest, YDA, Vimeo Staff Pick and was shortlisted for Grierson Short Award. Her films have screened at festivals including Sheffield Doc Fest, Doc NYC, EIFF, as well as on BBC3, Channel 4, i-D and The Guardian.