JOHN SMITH
WORST CASE SCENARIO
Weserburg Museum of Modern Art
Teerhof 20 - Bremen
20/1/2012 - 24/3/2012
The British artist John Smith (*1952 in London) has been making experimental films for more than three decades now. With their calculated idiom and ironic playfulness they count among the most important works of the contemporary film avant-garde. They are puzzling, sharp-witted, and above all funny. John Smith challenges us not to take anything we hear or say at face value, and in doing so puts the criteria of fact and fiction to the test. Focus is placed on his creative treatment of sound and image and the lightness and irony with which he creates space for viewers to rethink their own perception.
John Smith’s films repeatedly shift between the contexts of cinema and museum. The selection of the individual works within the scope of the exhibition and a supporting program that places other works in various spatial situations—besides the museum space, in the cinema and in public space as well—refer to the range of possibilities of perceiving filmic works. The content-related core of Smith’s works, reflecting on perception patterns, is furthermore taken up and presented at the various venues.
John Smith was born in 1952 in the London borough of Walthamstow and studied film at the Royal College of Art, London. Since 1972, more than forty films, videos, and installations by Smith have been presented worldwide at cinemas and galleries, and he has received numerous film festival awards. John Smith teaches at the University of East London.
The exhibition was developed in close cooperation with students from the University of Bremen in the masters program Communication of Art and Culture.
The exhibition is taking place within the scope of the 17th Internationales Bremer Symposium zum Film “Was ist Kino? Auswählen, Aufführen, Erfahren” (What Is Cinema? Select, Present, Experience) from January 20–22, 2012, in collaboration with the University of Bremen and City 46.
