The ICA will be on general strike on Fri 20 Oct. Read more
West of the Tracks, dir. Wang Bing, China, 2003, 534 min.
Chinese filmmaker and artist Wang Bing (Beauty Lives in Freedom, 2018, Mrs. Fang, 2017, Bitter Money, 2016, The Ditch, 2010, Fengming, A Chinese Memoir, 2007) discusses his uncompromising political documentary-making, examining the ethics of representation under and against Chinese authoritarianism in a conversation hosted by Erika Balsom, senior lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London.
Throughout his acclaimed body of work, including the seminal West of the Tracks (2003), the director turns his camera towards those displaced by the changing social and economic landscape of a rapidly-developing China. Shot digitally, Wang’s monumental films reflect his rigorous attention to political and emotional subject matter. This discussion will present an opportunity to engage with Wang’s ambitious filmmaking, considering its place in contemporary China.
Screening at this year’s FoR is Beauty Lives in Freedom, Wang Bing’s study of dissident Chinese artist, philosopher and activist Gao Ertai.
Attend this talk and the UK Premiere of Beauty Lives in Freedom for a discounted price of £16. This offer can be purchased by calling the ICA Box Office on 020 7930 3647.
Erika Balsom is a senior lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London. Her book After Uniqueness: A History of Film and Video Art in Circulation was published by Columbia University Press in 2017. She is the author of Exhibiting Cinema in Contemporary Art (2013), the co-editor of Documentary Across Disciplines (2016), and a frequent contributor to magazines such as Artforum, Frieze, and Sight & Sound. Her scholarly work has appeared in journals including Cinema Journal, e-flux, and Grey Room, and she has recently contributed catalogue essays for artists including Christian Marclay, Sarah Sze, and Rachel Rose. In 2017, she was the international film curator in residence at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre, New Zealand, resulting in the 2018 screening programme and publication An Oceanic Feeling: Cinema and the Sea. In 2018, she was awarded a Leverhulme Prize and the Katherine Singer Kovacs essay award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies
FoR is presented in partnership with CHASE (Consortium for the Arts and Humanities South-East England).
02:00 pm
Sun, 14 Apr 2019
Cinema 1
£14 full, £12 concs.
Join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #FoR19.
All films are ad-free and 18+ unless otherwise stated, and start with a 10 min. curated selection of trailers.
Red Members gain unlimited access to all exhibitions, films, talks, performances and Cinema 3.
Join today for £20/month.
no. 236848.