We recommend: Feel the Force at Cafe Gallery Projects

Feel the Force, the current exhibition at the Cafe Gallery Projects in Southwark Park, is a group show of 8 international artists who through photography and video explore ideas around the use of force, whether it be psychological, physical, political.

Notable pieces included: the unsettling video piece by Sarajev-born artist Maja Bajevic (image above), where a woman facing the viewer is repeatedly touched in both threatening and tender gestures by an unseen other, whilst the phrase 'how do you want to be governed?' is repeated over and over again. The exhibition also features two lovely video works by Irish artist Susan MacWilliam that investigate supernatural forces; in 13 Roland Gardens, MacWilliam's documents the famous R101 seance of the 1930s, recounted by the daughter of the medium involved. Plus, Benjamin Beker's War Memorial Installation prints, featuring historic monuments cut out of their surroundings: out of context they lose the powerful feelings they were made to invoke and become miniature aesthetic objects.

The exhibition features: Maja Bajevic, Benjamin Beker, Astrid Busch, Kate Gilmore, Immo Klink, Susan Macwilliam, James Pogson, Anina Schenker, is curated by Clare Goodwin and Liz Murray and is on at Cafe Gallery Projects until 28 June.


Image: How Do You Want To Be Governed?, Maja Bajevic

The Spine by Chris Landreth

The recently revamped National Film Board of Canada website is currently showcasing the new film by CG pioneer Chris Landreth.

The Spine tells the everyday tale of a marriage falling apart, made fantastical through Landreth's astounding signature 'Psychorealism' style of visualising human psychological states. The film was made with the assistance of fifteen animation students from Seneca College in Toronto at C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Toronto.

The NFB site features the trailer, interviews with the Director, key personnel from C.O.R.E. and the student animators, and there's a fantastic blog by Chris Landreth.

Chris Landreth has been making animated short films since the mid-90s, including The End, Bingo, The Listener, Caustic Sky: APortrait of Regional Acid Deposition and Data Driven: The Story of Franz K. His film Data Driven: The Story of Franz K, made in 1993, is currently showing in our online exhibition Computer Baroque (online until 14 July). Landreth won an Oscar for his film Ryan in 2004, a documentary animation that recounts conversations between Landreth and animator Ryan Larkin, a once highly regarded Canadian animator who had fallen on hard times.

The Spine premieres at Annecy International Animation Festival this week (8-13 June).

Image: Ryan, Chris Landreth