An evening with Mike Dibb

10 October, 2018 - 17:00
STUK, Leuven
talk+screening

In the presence of and in conversation with Mike Dibb.

 

We 10 Oct - 17:00 - talk with Mike Dibb
We 10 Oct - 20:00 - screening Painted with my Hair (2018)

The screening is organised by STUK and Courtisane, in collaboration with the Lieven Gevaert Centre, the Institute of Philosophy (KU Leuven) and the Research Group Literary Theory and Cultural Studies, Fac. of Arts (KU Leuven).

An evening with Mike Dibb

Mike Dibb (°1940, Leeds) is one of the major documentary filmmakers from the UK, who is best known for his groundbreaking television series Ways of Seeing (1972). With author John Berger, Dibb created an innovative visual language and collage structure that supported a refreshing and critical outlook on Western art and visual culture. During his long career for the BBC and later on Channel 4, Dibb enjoyed an extraordinary amount of creative freedom in the 1980s and 90s. The result is an impressive oeuvre of films and documentary series about music, literature and visual arts. Whether dealing with authors, oeuvres or longer series on ideas like play, time, or drawing, Dibb always approaches his subjects from the vantage point of conversation and collage. He remains in the background, and allows for the different voices to tell their own stories. A number of long conversations with important intellectuals like Stuart Hall, Edward Said and Roger Deakin capture conversation in its purest form.

In his most recent film, Dibb explores the survival strategy of an American prisoner, Donny Johnson, who has been imprisoned for over 25 years, mostly in solitary confinement. Bereaved of everything, Johnson finds a way out in painting, using colours distilled from M&Ms and brushes made of his own hair. During the evening in STUK, we will go on a journey through Dibb's career with excerpts from his work and we will screen his latest film.