AMSTERDAM.- Eye Filmmuseum offers a week-long platform to Artist in Residence 2024 Ginta Tinte Vasermane. Her latest multichannel video installation Formed by the Gaze, Twisted by the Beast will be ceremonially unveiled on 3 December, accompanied by a performance and an artist talk. A selection of silent slapstick and vaudeville films chosen by her from Eye’s extensive collection can be seen on Eye Film Player from 2 December.

From 2 to 9 December, Eye Filmmuseum presents the multichannel video installation Formed by the Gaze, Twisted by the Beast developed by Ginta Tinte Vasermane (Latvia/Netherlands) during her residency at Eye. For this installation, Vasermane drew inspiration from the extensive collection of silent slapstick and vaudeville films held by Eye, particularly those silent films with an anarchic or subversive slant.

Vasermane: “I saw slapstick comedy full of chaos and failure, violence, madness, fighting, ferocious pursuits, as well as absurd choreographies and extreme stunts. I focused on the anarchic, on scenes that turned social conventions upside down.”

She combines this infectious archival material with her predilection for the absurdity of everyday bureaucratic acts – a recurring theme in her work. In her oeuvre, she delves into human behaviour, power relations, social norms and role-playing. Through her video work, she attempts to observe behaviour from different perspectives, revealing with a great deal of humour how we behave in particular environments, such as the open-plan office.

Slapstick

During the official opening 3 December, a performance will introduce the work. Vasermane will also be a guest in the weekly programme series Eye on Art where, among other things, she will reveal her sources of inspiration: “During my residency in Eye, I looked at the past of moving images as a way of understanding the present. My main focus was on silent slapstick films, vaudeville and early non-fiction. I looked at obscure makers rather than the more well-known names in slapstick. I was interested in films with enigmatic situations, awkward movements and wayward moments.”

Vasermane has also put together a film compilation made up of slapstick films from the Eye collection, which can be seen on the Eye Film Player without charge, from 2 December. She selected films by unknown makers, as well as The Cook (1918) featuring famous comedians Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. Amsterdam-resident Latvian composer Elizabete Beāte Rudzinska created a new score specially for this programme.

Artist in Residence

Vasermane is the fourth artist to be picked for the Artist-in-Residence programme launched by Eye in 2017. The residency enables the selected artist to develop a project of their own choice, making use of the versatile archival material held in Eye’s extensive collection and drawing on the expertise of Eye’s curators. The residency aims to promote interaction between artists and the public.

The previous Artists in Residence were Alexandra Navratil (2017/2018), Aimée Zito Lema (2018/2019) and Imran Channa (2021).

Ginta Tinte Vasermane

Ginta Tinte Vasermane (Riga, Latvia) graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and obtained a Master of Film from the Netherlands Film Academy. Ginta works with a range of media, including moving images, video installations, film choreography, sculpture and curation. Through her video work, she strives to observe human behaviour from different perspectives. Ginta’s work has previously been exhibited by Art Rotterdam, the European Media Art Festival in Germany and ISCP – International Studio & Curatorial Program; Residency Unlimited as well as Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York, among others.