Celluloid Film Evening

On 28 January a celluloid film evening is being held in the context of the Marinus Boezem exhibition (on show until 26 Mar) in the Oude Kerk. Various films by Boezem will be projected onto the church walls from 20 hrs, when the interior is quiet and dark.

 

Marinus Boezem (b. 1934) put conceptual art on the Dutch map in the 1960s. No longer was the object important; the concept assumed the principal role. Boezem’s work is characterized by a certain lightness. He works with unusual non-materials such as wind, air and transparency. This unusual choice of materials is a feature of Boezem’s films as well. In his 1971 work Beademen van de beeldbuis (Breathing on the screen), Boezem gazes at the viewer, fogs up the image of his face by breathing on the screen, and then continues staring into the camera until the screen has cleared again. The Oude Kerk programme includes l’Uomo Volante (1979), Hooglandse kerk (1971), a recording of the re-enactment of l’Uomo Volante (14 January 2017), and other works. After the celluloid film screenings, Marian Cousijn (curatorial fellow, Tate Modern), Lorenzo Benedetti (curator, Kunstmuseum Sankt Gallen) and Jaap Guldemond (director of exhibitions, EYE Filmmuseum) will discuss the role of film in Marinus Boezem’s work.

 

Marinus Boezem (b. 1934) has created no fewer than five new works for the Oude Kerk. For example, the artist has realized a vertical labyrinth in which visitors appear and disappear. Boezem devised ideas that converge in this Gothic church building, which has a vertical structure that in his eyes symbolizes the human desire to ascend, leaving all that is worldly behind. For example, a 15-metre-high lift transports you into the rafters of the church, like a Deus ex machina (Latin for ‘plan from God). From this dizzying height you see the monumental Oude Kerk from a completely new perspective.

 

The celluloid film evening is being organized in association with the EYE Filmmuseum.