SCREENING

ART SG FILM: BY ARTISTS, ON ARTISTS

Art and cinema have long been intertwined, sharing a unique ability to probe the boundaries of perception, creativity, and expression. For the 2025 ART SG Film Program, we celebrate this synergy through the theme of Films by Artists, Films on Artists, presenting a curated selection of works that explore the fertile terrain where the visual and cinematic arts intersect.

This program invites audiences to delve into two complementary realms: the films made by artists—pushing the boundaries of cinematic form and storytelling—and films that document, interrogate, and illuminate the lives, works, and legacies of artists themselves.

Films by Artists
In this strand, we showcase the creative visions of contemporary and historical visual artists who have turned to filmmaking as a medium of exploration. These works often transcend conventional cinematic language, embracing experimental forms, conceptual narratives, and visual poetry. Whether drawing from their practices in painting, sculpture, or digital media, these artists transform the moving image into a dynamic canvas for their ideas, challenging the way we perceive both art and cinema.

Films on Artists
Conversely, this strand examines artists as subjects. From intimate portraits to sweeping historical surveys, these films offer rare insights into the processes, passions, and challenges that define artistic practice. They celebrate the complexity of creation while shedding light on the human stories behind iconic works of art. In exploring the triumphs and struggles of artists, these films also reveal the evolving role of art in society and culture.

Through these two perspectives, By Artists, On Artists creates a complex dialogue between creators and their audiences, between the act of making art and its interpretation.

Curated by Bangkok Kunsthalle and Khao Yai Art Forest Founding Director, and Artistic Director of St Moritz Film Festival, Stefano Rabolli Pansera.

Total Running Time: 643 min 42 sec

For more information on the individual video works, please visit ART SG Films.

Image caption: Film still from Arte Povera, Arte Povera, Appunti per la Storia, Arte Povera, 2023, courtesy Good Day Films Sales Agent; Country: Worldwide; Rights: All Rights

Gallery

Constructing Landscapes

17 Jan 2025

Screening from 10.30 am

Running Time – 225 min 35 sec

The section “Constructing Landscapes” explores the profound connections between art, nature, and the environments—both physical and conceptual—that artists create or inhabit. This program delves into the diverse ways artists engage with landscapes, whether by transforming natural materials, charting intimate journeys, or contemplating the expansive interplay of humanity and the environment. The works by Wolfgang Laib is a spiritual journey into natural landscapes. The evocative film by Monica de Miranda is a journey across both real and symbolic landscapes, reflecting on themes of migration, memory, and belonging. Matteo Zamagni explores the concept of horror vacui, the fear of emptiness, through a dazzling digital interpretation of landscapes in flux. The documentary by Ralph Goertz delves into the monumental photographic landscapes of Andreas Gursky, whose large-scale works redefine the relationship between humans and the environments they shape. The film of Not Vital captures the artist’s quest for beauty and meaning in the most unexpected places, reflecting his unique approach to art as a dialogue with the world. Sim Chi Yin and Tanatchai Bandasak focus on the concept of landscape that is always entangled in social, cultural and historical categories. These works collectively challenge our understanding of space, place, and identity, offering poetic and visionary interpretations of the notion of landscape which is always entangled in social, cultural and historical categories.

Andreas Gursky

ANDREAS GURSKY – a film by Ralph Goertz, 2024
Film
50 min
Courtesy © IKS-Medienarchiv, all rights reserved all works © Andreas Gursky VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024 used by permission of the artist

Monica de Miranda

Path to the Stars, 2022
Video, color, sound
34 min 41 sec
Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani

Matteo Zamagni

Horror Vacui, 2018
Single-channel video, sound
3 min 27 sec
Courtesy the artist and Gazelli Art House, London/Baku

Wolfgang Laib

Without Time, Without Place, Without Body, 2019 – 2021
Film
42 min
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac

Chi Yin Sim

The Mountain That Hid, 2022
2-channel video shown as single-channel, colour, sound
5 min 56 sec
Courtesy Sim Chi Yin

Tanatchai Bandasak

Drop, 2009
Single-channel video, sound
8 min 31 sec
Courtesy BANGKOK CITYCITY GALLERY

NOT VITAL

NOT ME: A JOURNEY WITH NOT VITAL, 2020
Documentary
78 min
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
Rated M18
Voices and Whispers

18 Jan 2025

Screening from 10:30 am

Running Time – 243 min 53 sec

The section “Voices and Whispers” focuses on the intimate, transformative, and deeply personal journeys of artists as they navigate the intersections of life, society and history. This program presents films that delve into the rich narratives, unspoken subtleties, and resonant echoes of some of the most influential figures in contemporary and modern art. Through their stories and practices, we are invited into moments of vulnerability, reflection, and profound artistic revelation. Voices and Whispers amplifies the nuanced stories and creative voices of artists whose works transcend time and genre. From Rauschenberg’s cultural breakthrough to Twombly’s mythical poetics, and from Gates’s spiritual soundscapes to his reflections on nature, this section offers a deeply resonant exploration of how art speaks, whispers, and endures. These films invite us to listen closely—not just to the stories of the artists, but to the subtle and transformative ways their works continue to shape our understanding of art, history, and humanity.

Theaster Gates

Ave Maria : An Exercise in reproduction, 2018
Single-channel video
39 min 56 sec
© Theaster Gates. Courtesy White Cube

Theaster Gates

Oh, The Wind, 2021
Single channel film, HD 16:9
11 min 57 sec
© Theaster Gates. Courtesy White Cube

Cy Twombly

CY DEAR A Journey Through the Life and Works of Cy Twombly, 2018
Film
92 min
Courtesy Good Day Films.
Director Andrea Bettinetti. Produced by Michele Bongiorno for Good Day Films

Robert Rauschenberg

TAKING VENICE, 2023
Documentary
98 min
Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac
Rated M18
Ruins and Prophecies

19 Jan 2025

Screening from 3 pm

Running Time – 174 min 14 sec

The section “Ruins and Prophecies” delves into the interplay between historical legacy and visionary imagination, exploring how artists face and cope with the radical transformation of society (consumerism, society of spectacle, technological advancement, etc.) and draw from the past to reshape the future. Through themes of decay, transformation, and foresight, this program examines the ways art reflects and redefines cultural epochs, offering a prophetic lens on both individual and collective experience. Ruins and Prophecies bridges the tangible and intangible, exploring how art transforms the remnants of the past into visions of possibility. Arte Povera’s embrace of raw materials and Nam June Paik’s avant-garde media experiments highlight the ways art interrogates the collapse of old systems while imagining new frameworks for understanding the world. Finally the works by Cai Dongdong and by Korakrit Arunanondchai interweaves the historic narrative with narratives of possible futures.

Through these films, this section invites viewers to reflect on art as a medium of both critique and creation—grounded in the ruins of history, yet brimming with the potential of prophecy.

Korakrit Arunanondchai

Painting with History Archive – Painting with history in a room filled with people with funny names 1, 2013
Single-channel video, color, sound
12 min 3 sec
Courtesy BANGKOK CITYCITY GALLERY
Rated NC16

Dongdong Cai

History of Life, 2023
Single-channel video, color, silent
42 min 41 sec
Courtesy of the artist

Nam June Paik

Global Groove, 1973
Video, color, sound
28 min 30 sec
© Nam June Paik Estate, courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York and Gagosian.
Rated NC16

Arte Povera

Arte Povera, Appunti per la Storia, 2023
Film
90 min
Courtesy Good Day Films Sales Agent; Country: Worldwide; Rights: All Rights
Director Andrea Bettinetti. Produced by Michele Bongiorno for Good Day Films
Rated NC16