Architecture on Film
OngoingA bi-monthly series of film screenings that offer an expanded view of how architecture and the city are represented and discussed across cinema, documentary and art. Presented within the singular architecture of London's Barbican Centre.
The series incorporates UK premieres, chaired discussions, reprise screenings and curated programmes, contextualised through commissioned programme notes, introductions and Q&As.
Venue
The Barbican Centre
Koolhaas HouseLife / Gan Eden
24 September 2008 6.30pmTwo UK premieres and two distinctive looks at the inner lives and afterlives or radical contemporary architecture. Followed by a Q+A with all filmmakers, chaired by Sam Jacob (FAT)
Code 46 + Michael Winterbottom Q&A
24 November 2008 7.00pmDepicting the future through a collage of the present. Followed by a Q+A with the director, production designer and Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG; available to watch online in full.
Los Angeles Plays Itself
21 January 2009 7.00pmAn essential documetary on the world's greatest urban film lot. Introduced by Kodwo Eshun, writer, theorist and artist.
Colossal Youth
30 March 2009 7.00pmA mesmeric feature film documenting the last days of an informal neighbourhood before its transfer to a planned development. Introduced by Jonathan Romney, Sight and Sound.
Wonderland / Streamside Day
18 May 2009 7.00pmSuburban Dreams: An evening dedicated to the American suburb. Introduced by Geoff Shearcroft, AOC Architecture.
Buckminster Fuller Meets the Hippies / Counter Communities
14 July 2009 7.00pmSpaceship Earth and the Designer Guru: Two films documenting architectural alternatives, and a countercultural response to visionary architect Buckminster Fuller.
In the Pit
28 September 2009 6.30pmThe private life of urban infrastructure envisioned through a uniquely personal take on direct cinema, in an award winning documentary on the construction of Mexico City's Periferico Freeway. Introduced by Gareth Jones, L.S.E.
London / Driftwood + Patrick Keiller Q&A
Tuesday 17 November, 6.30pmTwo exceptional psycho-geographical wanderings through the changing face of London at the end of the 20th century.
Public Housing
Thurs 28 Jan 2010 6.30pmA masterful film about the distance between problems and solutions,
structures and people – and therein perhaps the true core essence of
architecture itself. A rare opportunity to see the work of this modern
master on the big screen.
En Construcción (Work in Progress)
Mon 29 Mar 2010 6.15pmMagical cinema that takes a keen look at the transformation and inhabitation of Barcelona's El Raval district, as both a window onto wider realities and as a bridge between the past and the future. A document of a city, ‘searching for its future while jostling its past.'
Chain / Death By Chocolate
Mon 24 May 2010 8.30pmCorporate arcadias, a mosaic of global urban sprawl, the ‘superlandscape’ of anonymity, and the greatest show on earth in Jem Cohen's Chain, and artist Dan Graham's short film Death By Chocolate - which we are delighted to be bringing to the UK for the first time.
True Stories
Weds 21 July 2010 6.30pmDirected, staring and co-written by David Byrne (Talking Heads), True Stories weaves tabloid tales, musical numbers, economics and urbanism into a warm-hearted absurdist portrait of a small fictional Texan town and its inhabitants. ‘A completely cool, multi-purpose movie.’
In Comparison / The Creators of Shopping Worlds
Thursday 30 September 2010 6.15pmA pair of films examining architecture from the building block to mind control from esteemed filmmaker Harun Farocki, whose work - situated in a unique space between fine art and film in practice - produces visual essays in equal parts poetry and politics.
Beijing / Midtown + Sarah Morris Q&A
Thurs 4 Nov 2010 6.15pmThe UK Premiere of Sarah Morris's latest urban portrait, Beijing, preceded by a screening of her very first film, Midtown. We are delighted to have the artist with us on the evening for a Q&A following the screening.
Dark Days / Substrait
Mon 31 Jan 2011 6.30pmAn award winning document of a subterranean community in the tunnels beneath New York City, from a filmmaker who spent two years underground with his subjects and collaborators. Plus, artist Gordon Matta-Clark's parallel 1976 16mm sketchbook of NYC's sewers, crypts and tunnels.
Detroit Wild City / Detroit: City On The Move
Tues 8 March 2011 6.15pm / Mon 11 April 8.45pmThe Motor City's past and present - a UK Premiere and archival footage. Plus a Q&A with Detroit Wild City director, French artist Florent Tillon.
The White Slave / 1, 2, 3 Rhapsody
Mon 10 October 2011 7pmRem Koolhaas’s 1960s cinematic exploits gain their UK Premiere. We are delighted to announce that the screening will be introduced by Shumon Basar and Rem Koolhaas, in person.
Mur Murs / Get Out of the Car
Tues 29 November 2011 7pmA pair of personal responses to the movie capital’s other painted backdrops from two of the world’s greatest documentary filmmakers, exploring the city’s mural culture over 30 years. Introduced by Stuart Comer, Curator of Film, Tate Modern.
Style Wars / The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal
Tues 21 February 2012 7pmNew York’s original generation of graffiti artists meet their accidentally avant-garde civic counterparts – or competitors – in this double bill exploring legal and illegal use of the city as an urban canvas.
Venue
Tickets
£7.50 online (£9.50 full price)
AF Members £6.50 online (£7.50 full price) Concessions £7.50
Online: www.barbican.org.uk/film
Telephone (9am-8pm): 020 7638 8891