The program
Monday, June 13
10pm | Introduction by Pierre Bismuth of 'Where is Rocky II?'
10.30pm | Screening | Pierre Bismuth: 'Where is Rocky II?' (2016)
Running time 93'; team (gallery, inc.), Jan Mot, Christine König
This year’s Film program opens with an exclusive preview of ‘Where is Rocky II?’, the first
feature-length fiction film by French artist Pierre Bismuth. The story’s starting point is the
search for a mysterious object: an artificial rock that artist Ed Ruscha hid in the vast
California desert in the 1970s. ‘Where is Rocky II?’ is at once a documentary, a crime thriller
and a work of art – and ultimately something else entirely. Pierre Bismuth leads the audience
on a wild goose chase through reality and fiction, until it is impossible to tell them apart.
Tuesday, June 14
8pm | Short Film program | ‘Arbeit ist schön, macht aber viel Kunst’
Running time 68'; curated by Maxa Zoller
Karl Valentin’s famous phrase ‘Kunst ist schön, macht aber viel Arbeit’ (‘Art is beautiful,
but it takes a lot of work’) is the inspiration for this program of short films by contemporary
artists on the relationship between work and value. Above all, these films focus on the
value of manual and virtual work, such as work with computers, celebrity culture or the
production of money on the stock market.
Simon Fujiwara, Hello, 2015, 10', Andrea Rosen Gallery, Dvir Gallery, joségarcía ,mx
Cally Spooner, Off Camera Dialogue, 2014, 6', gb agency
Beatrice Gibson, Crippled Symmetries, 2015, 26', Laura Bartlett Gallery
Yuri Ancarani, San Siro, 2014, 26', Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi
Tim Davis, Just in Time, 2015, 3'50'', Van Doren Waxter
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Beatrice Gibson, Simon Fujiwara and Maxa
Zoller.
10pm | Short Film program | ‘Sound Spaces of Trauma’
Running time 66'; curated by Maxa Zoller
North Korea and Sarajevo: in this program, sites of historical trauma are revisited and
sublimated by means of classical musical compositions. These moving films by the three
artists mark a new approach in coming to terms with the past.
Park Chan-kyong, Flying, 2005, 13', Kukje Gallery / Tina Kim Gallery
Anri Sala, 1395 Days without Red, 2011, 43'46'', kurimanzutto, Hauser & Wirth, Galerie
Chantal Crousel, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Esther Schipper / Johnen Galerie
Manon de Boer, On a Warm Day in July, 2015, 9'50'', Jan Mot
Wednesday, June 15
8.30pm | Screening | Fiona Tan: ‘History's Future’ (2016)
Running time 95', Frith Street Gallery, Mongrel Media
‘History’s Future’ is the first feature-length fiction film by Netherlands-based Indonesian
artist Fiona Tan. The film’s protagonist, ‘MP’ (Missing Person), is a middle-aged man who
has been beaten so badly that he loses his memory and must piece his life together
anew. Through poetic images of European cities and impressive actors, Fiona Tan tells a
moving story and puts her finger on the sore spots of our time: violence, amnesia, shock,
loss of identity; being everything and everywhere at once, and yet nothing and nowhere.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Fiona Tan and Maxa Zoller.
Thursday, June 16
8pm | Jonas Mekas: ‘Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania’ (1971/1972)
Running time 82'; James Fuentes
Jonas Mekas is one of the pioneers of post-war experimental filmmaking, co-founder of
New York’s Anthology Film Archives and, at 93 years of age, still a tireless filmmaker in
his own right. This film reflects his tumultuous biography; he fled from Lithuania at age
22, was captured by the Nazis, after the war attended the University of Mainz and in the
late 1940s emigrated to New York. In ‘Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania’ he
documents his first trip back to his native land.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Jonas Mekas and Maxa Zoller.
10.30pm | Short Film program | 'Migrating Birds'
Running time 38'; curated by Maxa Zoller
This program tackles one of today’s most pressing issues: mass migration. However,
instead of focusing on tragedy, these films use indirect, metaphoric language to raise the
question of what it means to risk ‘crossing the water’.
Martha Rosler, Because This Is Britain..., 2012, 3', Galerie Nagel Draxler
Sven Johne, A Sense of Warmth, 2015, 15'35, Galerie Nagel Draxler
Edith Dekyndt, Material M, 2007, 1'35'', Galerie Greta Meert
Superflex, KWASSA KWASSA', 2015, 18'15'', Nils Staerk
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, The lncidental lnsurgents, Part 2: Unforgiving
Years, 2014, 6'30'', Carroll / Fletcher
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme,
Bjørnstjerne Christiansen and Maxa Zoller.
Friday, June 17
8.30pm | Special screening | Omer Fast: 'Continuity' (2016)
Running time 85'; selected by Sergio Fant, programmer Festival del film Locarno, gb
agency, Arratia Beer, Dvir Gallery, James Cohan Gallery, Filmgalerie 451
Following last year’s collaboration with Art Basel, this year the Festival del film Locarno
presents the Swiss premiere of ‘Continuity’, the most recent feature-length film by Omer
Fast. A short version of the film premiered at documenta 13 and has since won several
awards. The long version is a remake, repetition and continuation of the short version.
‘Continuity’ begins as a straightforward story of an emotional homecoming and turns
uncanny as the two protagonists – a middle-aged couple living in a small town in
Germany – repeatedly invite different young men into their home to perform a mysterious
ritual.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Omer Fast and Sergio Fant, programmer
Festival del film Locarno.
Saturday, June 18
8pm | Special Screening | Timothy Marrinan, Richard Dewey: 'Burden' (2016)
Running time 90'; selected by Marian Masone
European premiere
From his controversial performances of the early 1970s to his most recent sculptures and
installations, Chris Burden's work has consistently raised questions about the limits and
nature of art. Using unprecedented access to Burden's archive as well as candid footage
of the artist in the final years of his life, this documentary is a revealing portrait of the man
behind some of the most thought provoking and influential artworks of the past 50 years.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Timothy Marrinan, Richard Dewey and
Marian Masone.
Admission
Film tickets are CHF 17.
Holders of Art Basel VIP cards, Art Basel tickets and exhibitor passes can pick up a free
ticket at the Stadtkino Basel box office. The Stadtkino Basel box office opens 30 minutes
prior to the screenings. As seating is limited, please email film@artbasel.com for advance
ticket reservation or visit the Film information desk at Art Basel, entrance area of Hall 2.
Address
Stadtkino Basel
Klostergasse 5 4051 Basel
Tram number 1 (direction SBB) or 2 (direction Binningen) from Messeplatz to Bankverein.
From Bankverein it is a 3-minute walk to the Stadtkino.