London Launch: Artists' Film International
Exhibition open:
26 September - 26 October 2024
Wednesday - Saturday, 11:00 - 17:00
Free entry, no booking required
FormaHQ
Peveril Garden Studios
140 great Dover Street
London, SE1 4GW
Artists’ Film International 2024: Solidarity
FormaHQ, London
Forma is delighted to announce the London presentation of Artists’ Film International 2024 (AFI’24) at FormaHQ in Bermondsey. Taking place over four weeks between 26 September and 26 October, AFI’24 will present film works from fifteen international artists or artist collectives, diversely exploring the ways in which solidarity can be articulated through moving-image.
AFI’24 launches on Thursday 26 September 2024, with the London premiere of MASS by Nadeem Din-Gabisi, which Forma selected for AFI’24, a collaborative performance by Din-Gabisi and Coby Sey, and a live broadcast from FormaHQ by Montez Press Radio.
From 19:00, Nadeem Din-Gabisi and Coby Sey will present a live musical performance to accompany Din-Gabisi’s film MASS. Produced in 2020, MASS explores how collectivity, allegiances and bonds materialise from an individual’s experiences, both seen and unseen. One of the many collaborators on the film, musician-composer Coby Sey joins Din-Gabisi at FormaHQ in a call and response to MASS, remixing and performing the film’s soundscape/score live for the first time.
Following the performance, Forma’s Associate Curator for AFI’24, Ashleigh Kane, will sit down with Artist and director of MASS Nadeem Din-Gabisi to discuss the collaborative production process, his interdisciplinary practice, and how frequencies and resonances can foster togetherness. Further AFI'24 screenings will take place throughout the evening.
To draw links between a local and international conversation, Forma looks to London’s rich engagement in moving-image past and present, inviting students and recent graduates to present new works alongside a selection of material from the London Community Video Archive. London-based artist Holly Graham has been commissioned to create a new limited edition poster inspired by the programme, that will be available on the launch.
For AFI’24, Forma worked with Associate Curator Ashleigh Kane to select Nadeem Din-Gabisi’s film MASS, which was originally commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella in 2020. MASS departs from Tina Campt’s concept ‘Black visual frequency’ to imagine how a sense of belonging might be found within the alienating urban environment. The film follows a woman seeking connection as she wanders through a grey cityscape and retreats to an inner sanctuary. When she takes refuge, solitary reflection cultivates a deeper connection with herself and fosters an empathetic relationship with others. The film features contributions from musician Coby Sey, artist-filmmaker Rhea Storr, and Director of Photography Shivani Hassard, and is shot on 16mm, 8mm, and digital video.
In keeping with the non-hierarchical and collaborative practice that is cultivated by Artists’ Film International, an Associate Screening Programme showcases moving-image works from emerging London filmmakers, platforming their work in dialogue with artists from around the world. Materials from the London Community Video Archive (LCVA) will provide a transhistorical context, exploring how moving-image has been used for activism, communality and social empowerment since the 1970s.
Artists’ Film International 2024 launches at FormaHQ at 15:00 on 26 September and will be open to the public Wednesday - Saturday until 26 October 2024.
Installation view: Artists’ Film International 2024, FormaHQ, London. Co-curated by fifteen international arts organisations and organised by Forma. © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Nadeem Din-Gabisi, MASS, 2020. Live performance by Nadeem Din-Gabisi and Coby Sey at FormaHQ, London. 26 September 2024. Presented as part of Artists’ Film International 2024 at FormaHQ. ‘MASS’ was commissioned and produced by Film and Video Umbrella as part of FVU’s Curatorial Practice Award. Courtesy and © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Nadeem Din-Gabisi, MASS, 2020. Live performance by Nadeem Din-Gabisi and Coby Sey at FormaHQ, London. 26 September 2024. Presented as part of Artists’ Film International 2024 at FormaHQ. ‘MASS’ was commissioned and produced by Film and Video Umbrella as part of FVU’s Curatorial Practice Award. Courtesy and © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Installation view: Artists’ Film International 2024, FormaHQ, London. Co-curated by fifteen international arts organisations and organised by Forma. © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Installation view: Artists’ Film International 2024, FormaHQ, London. Co-curated by fifteen international arts organisations and organised by Forma. © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Installation view: Artists’ Film International 2024, FormaHQ, London. Co-curated by fifteen international arts organisations and organised by Forma. © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Installation view: Artists’ Film International 2024, FormaHQ, London. Co-curated by fifteen international arts organisations and organised by Forma. © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Nadeem Din-Gabisi, MASS, 2020. Live performance by Nadeem Din-Gabisi and Coby Sey at FormaHQ, London. 26 September 2024. Presented as part of Artists’ Film International 2024 at FormaHQ. ‘MASS’ was commissioned and produced by Film and Video Umbrella as part of FVU’s Curatorial Practice Award. Courtesy and © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Biographies
Nadeem Din-Gabisi (he/him) is a storyteller working in the realms of music, poetry and film. Nadeem’s work seeks to reimagine and investigate blackness as it pertains to his experiences as a British born, second generation immigrant of Sierra Leonean descent. His investigation and reimagining of blackness also pertains to the unknown, the infinite and the abyss. It’s in these places that Nadeem explores the depths of human and non-human experiences to better understand his life and living.
Nadeem’s debut album POOL was selected by Clash Magazine as one of the most slept on albums in 2022 and Jamz Supernova selected him as one of her Class of Supernova 2023. Nadeem is the Winner of the Fred Perry x Nicholas Daley Music Award 2021 and former resident of Somerset House Studios. His 2020 short film MASS was screened at Glasgow Short Film Festival 2021 and Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival 2021.
MASS was recently selected by arts organisation Forma, to be screened as part of Artists Film International 2024. Nadeem is one half of the musical duo; An Alien Called Harmony (alongside Momoko Gill), their debut EP was released this year. Earlier this year Nadeem attended a Chris Difford songwriting retreat in Somerset , and was recently a resident at The Glasshouse’s Summer Studios in Gateshead. Nadeem’s sophomore solo album, Offshore which tackles ideas of belonging, estrangement, nationhood and identity is due to be released in 2025 through Moshi Moshi Music.
Coby Sey (he/him) is a songwriter, producer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and DJ, who, after years spent buzzing around the DIY artist circuitry of South East London, has developed a distinctive presence as an artist and performer.
Coby’s recorded work spans the realms of live instrumentation, sample-based productions and experimental music, melding recognisable motifs of hip-hop, noise, jazz and grime into a dubbed-out anaesthesia.
On stage, the dreamlike compositions are imbued with a heavy, uneasy dancefloor energy, and fleshed out by live instrumentation courtesy of his revolving band of close South East London cohorts including Alpha Maid, Ben Vince, Charlie Hope, CJ Calderwood and Momoko “MettaShiba” Gill.
Coby’s open-door approach to sharing and making music is evident in his long-term collaborations with Mica Levi and Tirzah, as well as with Speakers Corner Quartet, Klein, TYSON, Laurel Halo and more. He is also a founding member of London’s CURL collective (with Mica and Brother May), and hosts a monthly radio show on NTS since 2015, offering a peek into his appealingly murky musical world.
Coby’s long awaited debut album ‘Conduit’ was released in September 2022 through AD 93.
Ashleigh Kane (she/her) is a writer, editor, creative consultant, art buyer, and curator based in London, UK. She is the Arts & Photography Editor-at-Large at Dazed & Confused, previously Arts & Culture editor (2014-2020). Ashleigh is also an art buyer and curator for Thursday’s Child and hosts Art After Hours, a series of monthly art tours she curates for the EDITION London.
Some of her clients include Gucci, Prada, Miu Miu, Versus Versace, Nike, The Body Shop, Unseen Amsterdam, NOWNESS, Perrier-Jouët, adidas Originals, Coach, The Digi Fairy, Analogfolk, Art Partner, Somesuch & Co, GAP, Dermalogica, and Thursday’s Child. She has been invited to lecture/speak at London College of Communication, London College of Fashion, Sheffield Hallam University, and Leeds Arts University, amongst others. She’s written for Dazed, i-D, AnOther, The Face, ELEPHANT, HighSnobiety, Crack, Brick, Riposte, foam, Glorious sport, Truth, AMBUSH universe, etc.
Holly Graham is a London-based artist whose work looks at ways in which memory and narrative shape collective histories. Holly holds a BFA from Oxford University and an MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art. Current projects include commissions with UP Projects & Barnet Council (2024); TACO! (2021-24); and Manchester Art Gallery (2024). Recent solo projects include commissions with: Locales, Rome (2023); Deptford X (2023), London; Skelf, Online (2022); Robert Young Antiques, London (2021); Gaada, Shetland (2020); Goldsmiths CCA, Online (2020); and Southwark Park Galleries, London (2020). Holly is an Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London; and is Co-Founder of Cypher BILLBOARD, London. She was awarded a Sainsbury Scholarship at the British School in Rome in 2023.
hollygraham.co.uk | @hollycagraham
The London Community Video Archive (LCVA) preserves, archives, and shares community videos made in the 1970s and 1980s in London and the South East. The LCVA contains moving-image, oral histories and ephemera produced by underrepresented groups, including social housing tenants, community action groups, women, the global majority, youth, LGBTQ+ individuals, and the disabled. The advent of portable video recording enabled these communities to create their own ‘Community Video’ projects, which focused on social empowerment and addressed issues such as housing, play-space, discrimination and youth arts.
The archive has digitised videos from 1970 to 1985 and has conducted 20 oral history interviews with people active in Community Video. The LCVA also runs an outreach program of community screenings and events. Distinguished by its activist impulses and participatory methods, the archive is dedicated to preserving and utilising historical works for contemporary use.
Created by video activists Tony Dowmunt and Andy Porter, and developed with Heinz Nigg with input from Ed Webb-Ingall, LCVA is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and is based within Goldsmiths' Department of Media and Communications.
the-lcva.co.uk | @the_lcva
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Lead image: Nadeem Din-Gabisi, MASS, 2020. Live performance by Nadeem Din-Gabisi and Coby Sey at FormaHQ, London. 26 September 2024. Presented as part of Artists’ Film International 2024 at FormaHQ. ‘MASS’ was commissioned and produced by Film and Video Umbrella as part of FVU’s Curatorial Practice Award. Courtesy and © the artists. Photo: Sam Nightingale.
Exhibition open:
26 September - 26 October 2024
Wednesday - Saturday, 11:00 - 17:00
Free entry, no booking required
FormaHQ
Peveril Garden Studios
140 great Dover Street
London, SE1 4GW