NOTES OF THE LAST SUMMER ............. TRILOGY, 2011 - 2012

 

The series of literary, cinematic and musical excerpts from the past century are reconnected with 'the last summer' - the recent culmination of restlessness in the Dutch culture. Various quotations are translated to the present of the year 2011, echoing the multiplicity of ‘last summers’ and everlasting renewal of discontent in the culture.

This production is made possible with the help of friends and colleagues: Bas van de Geyn, Go Eun Im, David Michael DiGregorio, Taf Hassam, Ben Pointeker and Ilse van Liempt.

 


sevcuk.nl - works

 

NOTES 2 ........... little soldier (1960-present)

summary: a filmmaker re-imagines a politician, 08:00

 

“A man. The man works for a government... Now, the man is hesitating. Something is compromising his mission. Perhaps a woman, the woman that collaborates with art institutions…”

An attempt to re-imagine such a situation in the contemporary Dutch society parallels with the scenario of J.L. Godard’s early film ‘Le petit soldat’. The excerpts from this film are featured using ‘détournement’ technique. The montage of the old film and the new video materials results in various ‘mirroring episodes’ that include references to Guy Debord’s ‘society of the spectacle’ and Jacques Lacan’s ‘mirror stage’.

720p HD video at 25 f/s, 16:9, color and B/W, stereo sound 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTES 3 ............... dear friends (1983-present)

summary: lyrics echo in front of a parliament, 09:30

 

This video makes a melodramatic summary of the protest by the Dutch cultural scene that ended in the confrontation with riot control officers in the summer of 2011. By tracing the roots of the Dutch names and words, this event communicates with another historic confrontation between cultural produces and the state – the art events by NSK in the early 1980’s in the former Yugoslavia.

After this retroactive encounter with the protest ‘of the last summer’, the final notes consider the nature of images in relation to human existence; Saint Augustine’s interpretation of Psalm 36:9 is redirected by contemporary thinker Julia Kristeva.


720p HD video at 25 f/s, 16:9, color, stereo sound 

 

 



NOTES 1 .......... limits of (1914-present)

summary: a writer walks through a ghetto, 12:00

 

The video begins with recordings of an artist working in his studio. Gradually the neighbourhood outside of the studio is introduced by series of still images and a voice reading a passage from ‘Ulysses’. The excerpt from the third chapter of the book - considering limits of perception - is adjusted to fit the video. James Joyce’s text from the beginning of 20th century is redirected to meet with a multi-cultural neighbourhood as a backdrop for anti-migrant and anti 'high culture' sentiments in the present-day Dutch society.

720p HD video at 25 f/s, 16:9, color and B/W, stereo sound