Derek Jarman’s final film Blue (1993) contemplates losing sight, community and colour in the midst of the AIDS Crisis. Jarman described the film as “The first feature film to embrace the intellectual imperative of abstraction” with a single blue image projected for the full film. Jarman narrates the film alongside Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry and John Quentin.
Since its first screening, many artists have been inspired by Blue - including Luke Fowler and Sarah Wood.
At this special event, Fowler and Wood will present their films Being Blue and Prospect, followed by a conversation chaired by Assistant Curator Isabel Tovey. The evening will then conclude with a screening of Jarman's Blue.
Luke Fowler
Luke Fowler is an artist, 16mm filmmaker and musician based in Glasgow. He creates cinematic collages that have often been linked to the British Free Cinema movement of the 1950s. His para-documentary films have explored counter cultural figures including Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing, English composer Cornelius Cardew and Marxist-Historian E. P. Thompson. As well as portraits of musicians and composers he has also made films and installations that deal with the nature of sound itself.
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, poet, gardener, and gay rights activist.
Sarah Wood
Sarah Wood is an artist-filmmaker, writer and curator. She works primarily with the still and moving image to explore the role the documentary archival plays in the narration of history. Since she began working in artists’ film in 2000 her ambition has been to generate a cinema of ideas – experimenting with film form to offer renewing space for viewers to consider some of the key social and political issues of our time.
There is step-free access from Millbank, through the Clore Entrance and into the rear of the Auditorium.
- Accessible, standard and Changing Places toilets are located on the Lower floor.
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