[EFF15S8] Session 8: Three Films by The Otolith Group
Description
A special presentation of three video essays by The Otolith Group, introduced by Kodwo Eshun. The Otolith Group was founded by Kodwo Eshun and Anjalika Sagar in London in 2002. Their work encompasses video, installation, exhibition making and publications. [Link: http://otolithgroup.org]
Films: In the Year of the Quiet Sun, The Otolith Group, UK, 2013, digital, 34 minutes, English
In the Year of the Quiet Sun takes its name from the decrease in solar surface temperature that occurs every eleven years. From November 1964 to November 1965, the nation states of the world issued postage stamps to commemorate the first scientific expedition to study the sun. As the stamps turn their face towards the sky, they overlook the unstable land of Africa's newly independent states, confronting the astronomical time of the quiet sun with the political calendar of Pan-Africanist conferences in Accra, Addis Ababa, Bandung, Berlin and Casablanca.
Anathema, The Otolith Group, UK, 2011, digital, 37 minutes, English
Anathema reimagines the microscopic behaviour of liquid crystals undergoing turbulence as a sentient entity that possesses fingertips enthralled by the LCD touchscreens of communicative capitalism. In isolating and recombining the magical gestures of dream factory capitalism, Anathema proposes itself as a prototype for a counter-spell assembled from the possible worlds of capitalist sorcery.
People to Be Resembling, The Otolith Group, UK, 2012, digital, 22 minutes, English
People to Be Resembling is a pentagonal portrait of Codona, the post-free jazz, pre-world music trio founded by multi-instrumentalists Collin Walcott, Don Cherry and Nana Vasconcelos in 1978. In its arrangement of positive and negative stills with colour and black and white moving images and original compositions by Charles Hayward, People to be Resembling reimagines the process of recording as a meditation upon permutation and cohabitation.
Previews
1 - Session 8 ICA recording (EFF15S8 Otolith Group Intro 27-3-2015.MP3)
Collection Method
Data Objects
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Metadata
| Dataset Title: | [EFF15S8] Session 8: Three Films by The Otolith Group |
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| Creators: | Temple, Michael and Barrington, Matthew |
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| School/Department: | Birkbeck Schools and Research Centres > School of Arts > Film, Media and Cultural Studies |
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| Data collection method: | The Essay Film Festival ran between 2015 and 2023, and presented a global range of contemporary and restored essayistic works. The events are now archived here for research purposes. |
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| Collection period: |
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| Statement on legal, ethical, and access issues: | All film stills were provided by participating artists. |
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| Depositing User: | Emma Yapp | ||||||||||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 08 May 2025 10:39 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last Modified: | 08 May 2025 10:51 | ||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: | Birkbeck College, University of London |
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2646-6066Impact & Reach
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