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On Overgrown Paths by Ben Rivers
On Overgrown Paths by Ben Rivers at Permanent Gallery and the Regency Town House
15 November – 14 December 2008
Preview Friday 14 November 6pm – 9.30pm
A series of cinematic portraits by Ben Rivers showing the lives of three individuals who have made the isolated pockets of Northern Europe their home. Living self-sufficiently off the land, the subjects of the films are independently evolving a way of life that quietly, but resolutely, refuses to submit to the demands of conventional living.
The three film-works are projected within three huts made of reclaimed wood from the local area, and installed across two sites: the ex-office space of Permanent Gallery, Brighton, and the semi-restored Regency Town House, Hove.
The title of the exhibition refers to the name of a book by Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun. Hamsun held a deep mistrust for civilisation and believed a life's fulfillment was only to be found through the soil. On Overgrown Paths came about as a final defense following Hamsun's condemnation by fellow Norwegians for sympathising with the Romantic 'Volk' elements of the Third Reich. Hamsun embodies the principles that the characters within these films adhere to, whilst his life-story demonstrates the political misappropriation that the return to nature has suffered.
Mimicking the cluttered liberty these recluses seek, Ben's camera moves with a sensitive and inquisitive abandon. Using experimental processing techniques and utilising the fragmenting effect of the 30sec longest continuous shot of a wind-up Bolex, the films emphasise the incomplete nature of the cinematic portrait, while preserving a sense of the private. What emerges is a richly textured and intimate ode to the patterns of the lives portrayed.
This Is My Land, observes the daily routine of self-sufficient Jake Williams. Sördal focuses upon an abandoned film set found while searching for a Norwegian hermit. Origin of the Species surveys the geography surrounding a 75-year-old amateur inventor and Darwin enthusiast.
On Overgrown Paths is a touring exhibition developed by Measure in collaboration with the artist and Permanent Gallery, Brighton.
Click here for a link to the Permanent Galley website.
Origin of the Species was commissioned by Film London Artists Moving Image Network, Sørdal was commissioned by Arts Council England, South East.
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