Abandon normal devices festival Liverpool 2011

Festival Dates: 29 September – 2 October 2010

“A boldly freewheeling art and film festival – something of a call to arms.” The

Guardian

“Amongst all the new and continuing festivals popping up in the UK, AND has

immediately set itself apart” Little White Lies

“Just when you thought the boundary-breaking arts fests were winding down for

the year, along comes Abandon Normal Devices” Guardian Travel

After the smash hit event that was held last Autumn in Manchester, this years AND (Abandon Normal Devices) festival showcasing new cinema and digital culture is returning to Liverpool. The 3rd annual edition is running from the 29th September until the 2nd November, and promises to break the rules, cross all boundaries and turn its audience’s minds inside out.

It will also bring to the forefront an eclectic mix of artists who are on the very edges of the arts, films and science and technology to answer the burning question; what are the normal devices and how and why would we abandon them?

Pushing the boundaries like never before, this year’s event is investigating the very outer limits of our beliefs. Visitors should expect UFO’s, celebrity cults, fake gurus, flying saucers, gagging orders and many other different types of paranormal activity. There are several UK premieres as well as new commissions from the likes of Shezad Dawood, Brody Condon, Rachel Mayeri and Kurt Hentschlager.

This years AND festival actually kicks off earlier in September with a Trans-media tour through the North West. It will take in fairs, markets and zoos in Cheshire, Cumbria and Lancashire. This tour culminates in Liverpool with the festival itself, which is using the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) as its hub.

The AND festival is inspired the events transpiring in 2012, and is funded by Legacy Trust UK, part of WE PLAY, which is the cultural legacy programme of the North West for the Olympic and Paralympic games. Legacy Trust UK is actually an independent charity that was set up with the sole intention of creating a lasting, cultural legacy from the London 2012 games throughout the UK.

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS:

Shezad Dawood – ‘Piercing Brightness’

WORLD PREMIERE

An eerily beautiful film directed by visual artist Shezad Dawood, scripted by Ian

Rakoff (The Prisoner) with original sound track by Makoto Kawabata of Acid

Mothers Temple (Japan). The plot interweaves elements of documentary and

character-driven narrative against a backdrop of science fiction. The film was shot

entirely in Preston and includes archive footage of UFO sightings in the region.

Rachel Mayeri – ‘Primate Cinema: Apes as Family’

WORLD PREMIERE

LA-based video artist Rachel Mayeri has made a film for chimpanzees to watch,

using their responses as a way of imagining what their inner worlds might be like.

Shown as a multi-channel video installation, Primate Cinema: Apes as Family is

Mayeri’s work about the chimpanzees, their responses to visual media and

reactions to a film created expressly for them. For this work, commissioned by

The Arts Catalyst, Mayeri collaborated with comparative psychologist, Dr. Sarah

Jane Vick who studies chimp behaviour, looking at aspects of personality and

emotional expression.

Rachel Mayeri’s videos, installations, and writing projects explore the intersection

of art and science through topics ranging from the history of special effects to the

human animal. Mayeriʼs ʻanimated documentariesʼ combine motion graphics and

live-action, documentary and storytelling. She has created a series of

experimental videos inspired by primates including Primate Cinema: Baboons as

Friends (2007), a Hollywood style re-enactment of a baboon social drama with

human actors. Primate Cinema: Apes as Family is funded by a Wellcome Trust

Arts Award

Revital Cohen – ‘The Immortal’

WORLD PREMIERE

Cohen explores definitions of life, mechanics and artificiality by connecting life

support machines to each other, mimicking a biological structure. With vast

mechanical circuits visible, audiences will witness the whole kinetic contraption at

work. This bizarre mechanical creature will be accompanied by a publication that

documents the process and includes pieces by a range of practitioners from the

fields of biomedical science, philosophy, ethics and aesthetics.

Kurt Hentschläger – ‘Zee’

UK PREMIERE

In Zee, the audience enters a space filled with extremely dense fog, so that the

walls and ceiling of the space remain obscured. Stroboscopic light filters through

the fog, creating structures that are in constant flux, a kind of psychedelic

architecture of pure light. The result is an immersive environment in which the

“real” physical world mutates into a primordial soup of pulsing sound, mist and

colours. An ambient and minimal soundscape connects to interference patterns

and changes in colour, frequency, intensity and mood. Out of this world…

Brody Condon – ‘Level Five’

UK PREMIERE

Level Five is a participatory performance with live role-playing exploring selfactualization

seminars along the lines of the Large Group Awareness Training

sessions of the early 1970’s. Players will arrive in character, and are expected to

emote as their characters for the 2-day duration of the game. Only participants

are allowed in the performance space itself, with footage mixed live and analogue

streamed for the public.

Mollieindustria

NEW COMMISSION

Mollieindustria have created a game for Smartphone devices. Too often the hitech

sector is seen as non-material with most of its value concentrated in

intellectual property, research and design, software development, marketing and

other impalpable aspects of the production process. This project reveals that

behind the cognitive work there is a very material, sometimes troubling supply

chain that stretches across the globe.

LJMU – ‘Q.E.D. quod erat demonstrandum’

This group exhibition brings together established and emerging international

artists who question the role of documentation in informing our belief systems. It

will include works which re-imagine artistic and scientific processes in a playful

way: art by robots for robots, a perpetually flowing flask, visions of outer space,

diagrams for mechanical copulation and the performance of landing on the moon.

Curated by Sarah Cook with Jean Gagnon and Including work by: Michel de

Broin, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and Sascha Pohflepp, Ulrike Kubatta, Scott

Rogers and Trent Noble, Axel Straschnoy et al., Norman White and Laura

Kikuaka, Joe Winter and others.

AND is presented by Cornerhouse (Manchester), FACT (Foundation for Art

and Creative Technology) (Liverpool) and folly (Lancaster), and is an innovative

new festival of arts and cultural debate for the Northwest.

Offering a high calibre and energetic programme, Abandon Normal Devices

2011 will sprawl across and out from Liverpool’s cultural spaces. The festival is

funded by the Legacy Trust and is part of WE PLAY, the Northwest cultural legacy

programme for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Further programme confirmations, venues and special events will be

announced in the coming weeks at www.andfestival.org.uk

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Supported by the National Film and Television School (NFTS) and The Bahamas Tourist Office, the challenge seeks to engage with up and coming or professional filmmakers and give them the chance to compete for a £14,000 cash prize and state-of-the-art camera equipment. This is combined with the opportunity to draw on scenery which has been the backdrop of many iconic films including; Pirates of the Caribbean, Casino Royale and The Silence of the Lambs.

Nalluri, whose rise to fame has included directing BBC-smash hits such as Spooks, Hustle and Life on Mars will Chair the panel of esteemed judges who will select the final 14 lucky filmmakers. Other judges include Finola Dwyer, Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, Nik Powell, Director of the NFTS and Tommy Thompson, Deputy Director General of Bahamas Tourist Office.

With the British film industry seeing an unmistakable emergence of exciting new directors, The 14 Islands Film Challenge will give those selected a chance to learn from the industry’s finest. An experienced producer will help the finalists during the making of the films whilst in The Bahamas and provide guidance through the editing process, with use of the National Film and Television School’s editing suites in Beaconsfield on their return. All 14 films will be aired at a prestigious red carpet event at BAFTA in March 2010 when the winner of the challenge will be revealed.

To participate in the challenge, Britain’s rising directors are required to submit a 500 word treatment on an inspirational person from their local community and their reasons why they should be chosen. Judges will then select around 40 candidates to submit a short film based on their treatment and from those films, 14 finalists will be selected. All entries will be available to view on the challenge website.

The shortlisted filmmakers will take inspiration from the warmth of the Bahamian people to tell inspiring stories through their films. The filmmakers will be encouraged to show the islands in their own way and demonstrate their creativity and individuality through their final cut. Each filmmaker will be based on one of the 14 main islands of The Bahamas and assigned a local team, dedicated to helping them experience and capture true Bahamian life.

Bharat Nalluri, whose directing credits include blockbuster films such as Resident Evil and Alien V Predator, talks about how important it is to give new filmmakers a chance to prove their talent: “The chance to travel to beautiful locations, make personal films, mix with industry experts, have the best camera equipment to hand and showcase your finished work around the world – The 14 Islands Film Challenge is a wonderful opportunity for any aspiring filmmaker. I wish it was around when I first started in the industry.”

Tommy Thompson, Deputy Director General, Bahamas Tourist Office, comments: “The British Film industry has a wealth of raw talent, so by throwing the challenge out to all those upcoming directors waiting for their break, the 14 Islands of The Bahamas provide the perfect canvas for Britain’s next filmmaking star to show their ability by capturing Bahamian life, community and the beautiful surroundings.”

Nik Powell, Director of the National Film and Television School and also on the panel of judges, comments: “We are delighted to support The 14 Islands Film Challenge and look forward to seeing how upcoming filmmakers will respond to what could be the platform to launch their career in the future.”

Finola Dwyer, Producer and Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, adds: “This is a fantastic opportunity for emerging, talented filmmakers to demonstrate their story-telling abilities in one of the most breathtaking locations in the world – The Bahamas.”

More information on the entry criteria and registration can be found at: www.14islandsfilmchallenge.co.uk.

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