INTRO
‘It was a fascinating experience, an exercise that hinted at myriad possibilities for cinema while questioning its very definition. Walking out after the event, several questions abounded in my mind. How would the laws of filmmaking be altered if cinema were vertical? What would happen to the constructs that assist in deconstruction of cinema, such as mise en scène? Where would such a format take the knowledge and rules of photography, composition and scriptwriting?’
- Laya Maheshwari, journalist and film critic in filmmakermagazine.com
Vertical Cinema is a series of fourteen commissioned large-scale, site-specific works by internationally renowned experimental filmmakers and audiovisual artists, which are presented on 35 mm celluloid and projected vertically with a custom-built projector in vertical cinemascope. The programme premiered in 2013 and has since been screened at museums and festivals around the globe.
The fourteen experimental films made by Tina Frank (AT), Björn Kämmerer (DE/AT), Manuel Knapp (AT), Johann Lurf (AT), Joost Rekveld (NL), Rosa Menkman (NL), Billy Roisz (AT) & Dieter Kovačič (AT), Makino Takashi (JP) & Telcosystems (NL), Esther Urlus (NL), Martijn van Boven (NL) & Gert-Jan Prins (NL), Susan Schuppli (UK), Lukas Marxt (AT), HC Gilje (NO), BJ Nilsen (SE) & Karl Lemieux (CA) are screened live on a vertical monument. They are a unique blend of abstract cinema, structural experiments, found footage remixes, chemical film explorations and live laser action. The artists offer their view of ‘vertical axis art’, and the results of this challenging commission are fascinating.