Faltering (Fearlessly) between Film and Sound Poetry – Marcus Bergner


Tento čtvrtek navštíví atelier Intermédia 3 na Akademii výtvarných umění v Praze Marcus Bergner, představý se jako performer, spisovatel a videoumělec. Přednáška začne v deset hodin a bude pokračovat do dvanácti. Více již následující text.


















This presentation will focus on the overlapping/interlinking of various literary, performative and cinematic areas within my work of the last twenty years. For instance it will include screening films that were made primarily to be “read” or actually “misread” and then performing a piece of writing intended as the script for an “unfilmable film.”  

The presentation will be divided into two sections: The first section will deal with areas of film and include briefly explaining the practice and history of experimental film; this will include the screening of a number of historical and recently made short films. I will then describe and demonstrate aspects to my own film making practice and its various links to painting, literary experimentation and performance. This will include screening an excerpt from my recently completed long film The Surface made entirely from found footage and liquid paper (correction fluid). This film plays with the idea that “light erases the image and the image erases light” via the actual process of cinematic projection. In conclusion to this part of the presentation I will provide an example of my research within the area of art history by discussing specific paintings by the 17th century artist Roelandt Savery in light of and in comparison to recently made artists film from Los Angeles. 

The second part of the presentation will focus on areas of performance and literary experimentation with regards to the practice and exhibition of contemporary art. I will present and discuss a collection of original performance scores written and developed by Arf Arf and that were recently exhibited in Berlin. As well I will perform a number of sound poems by various artists and writers and call upon students to collaborate/participate within these performances.


















Marcus Bergner is an Australian artist living and working in Prague. He has made close to thirty films in as many years that have, with other artworks, been exhibited extensively throughout Europe, America and Australia. Since 1985 he has collaborated and performed with the Australian sound poetry group Arf Arf. Earlier this year Rumpsti Pumsti in Berlin released a DVD collection of selected films by this group and mounted an exhibition of their original scores/designs. In 2009 Bergner completed a PhD research project that reconsiders experimental film in light of new approaches within the practice and uses of art history. Currently he is a lecturer in Media History at the University of NY in Prague.