October 8 – December 5, 2010
Opening: Thursday, October 7, 2010 from 8 – 10 pm
Artist’s talk: Saturday, October 9
from 1 – 3 pm
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
University of British Columbia
1825 Main Mall
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2
http://www.belkin.ubc.ca
Mark BoulosNo Permanent AddressAll That is Solid Melts Into AirThe Word of GodBoulos’ work revolves around his interest in revolutionary ardour and religious ecstasy. In the twenty minute, All That is Solid Melts Into Air, one screen shows the Nigerian rebel group MEND who are trying to sabotage the oil industry in the Niger Delta. Boulos reveals the Marxist politics of group members and their adherence to the war god Egbisu who they believe gives them invulnerability to bullets. The sequence climaxes in a war dance. On the other screen are scenes from the Chicago Stock Exchange on the day of the Bear Stearns collapse. The frenzied traders and gesticulating warriors echo and face each other. This work was shown at the Biennale of Sydney (2008) and at the recent 6th Berlin Biennale (2010). It has never been shown in North America.
The new, No Permanent Address is for three screens and consists of portraits and vignettes of life with members of the New People’s Army, a Maoist guerrilla group in the Philippines who have recently allowed same-sex marriages among the cadres. Boulos talks to various members of the group and witnesses their daily life. The piece climaxes with a tense preparation for a possible encounter with the Philippine Army (which does not, in the end, occur).
In a geo-political world where more and more struggles for sovereignty are labeled “terrorist”, Boulos presents a non-journalistic, diaristic, and very human portrait of people who have turned to militancy.
Biography:
Mark Boulos (b. 1975, Boston, USA) is an artist-filmmaker and lives and works in Amsterdam. He was trained as a documentary filmmaker and works on gallery installations. During 2010, his work has been exhibited at the 6th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, and in a solo exhibition at AR/GE Kunst Galerie Museum, Bolzano. In 2008, Boulos participated in the Biennale of Sydney, Art Basel, and had his first solo show at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. His work has been shown at the 2nd Biennale of Thessaloniki, the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, the Bloomberg Space, Hayward Gallery, the Barbican Gallery, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London.
Boulos has received awards from the Netherlands Film Fonds, the Fonds BKVB, Film London, the British Documentary Film Foundation, and the Arts Council England. He received his BA in Philosophy from Swarthmore College and Deep Springs College, USA, his MA from the National Film and Television School, England, and held a Fulbright Scholarship at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam.
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This exhibition is made possible with funding from The Canada Council for the Arts, the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Film Fund, and the generous support of our Belkin Curator’s Forum members.
For information please contact:
Naomi Sawada [email protected], tel: (604) 822-3640
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
University of British Columbia
1825 Main Mall
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2
http://www.belkin.ubc.ca
