THE WORLD IS MADE OF THINGS

The mundane objects in our everyday lives exert enormous pressure over how we interact with the world, but because of habit we forget about them. Inattentively, we pick up a fork, flick on a light switch, wash a glass, barely ever thinking about the things themselves. By different means, these films undermine our cosy distracted familiarity with the objects that make up our world: clocks tick, electricity comes to a remote village in Kenya, lab equipment operates seemingly of its own accord, domestic items are arranged in surreal bricolages, glasses are filled with water, and a landscape is strewn with the detritus of a terrorist attack.

Forms of Circulation

Sarah Perks, Paul Stewart / 2024 / UK / 13:12

Developed out of workshops with staff at the advanced biosciences research facility National Horizons Centre, Forms of Circulation explores the wider impact of routine machine processes on their human and non-human recipients. Captured on 16mm colour film, and also shot on location at Teesmouth National Nature Reserve, the film mediates on the labour involved including investigating deadly mouth rot in seal pups and fruit flies’ role in modelling for Parkinson’s disease cures.

The Birth Of Light

Jasmijn Schrofer / 2024 / Kenya / 22:30

"Birth of Light" explores the clash between traditional nomadic life and the arrival of electricity and a 4G network in a remote desert community in Northern Kenya. As darkness fades away, the film raises questions about the consequences of modernization on their self-sufficient culture, highlighting themes of capitalism, globalization, and climate change.

Small Vessels

Matt Feldman / 2024 / Digital / UK

A study of motion coming to a stop. The domestic becomes the medium through which personal and political tensions are given body.

Domestic Balances

Federica Cecilia Sala / 2024 / Italy / 07:20

“Domestic Balances” is a game of precision and patience, a form of meditation. The goal is to build dynamic balance systems with ordinary objects: the result is a collection of ephemeral kinetic sculptures with hypnotic movements. The objects, extracted from their context and stripped of any utility, become dancing shapes and colors that recall a familiar landscape, but at the same time suggest a new, delicate, and intimate one. “Domestic Balances” is a metaphorical exercise about the search for inner balance and tells the urgency of a poetic perspective on everyday life.