Sheffield Fringe, in association with the Whitechapel Gallery symposium Object! On the Documentary as Art presents an evening of films by artist-filmmaker Rosalind Nashashibi, surveying her work from 2000-2015. Ahead of her upcoming presentation of new works at documenta 14 in April, this retrospective selection of films - rarely encountered together in the cinema context – will be screened in their original 16mm format, followed by a discussion with Nashashibi.
One way of approaching Rosalind Nashashibi’s films is through the prism of observational documentary film. And although the act of looking, as a contemplative yet outward-reaching act, is a big part of the Nashashibi method, it is by no means the only way to read her works.
Nashishibi predominantly uses 16mm film to create intimate perspectives and contemplative pacing, adding to each work an exacting sound design. These sound elements collide with the analogue source material to conjure a visceral, physical viewing experience. In Nashashibi’s work, the “real” world “out there” comes into sensuous contact with the viewer’s equally real internal world. Considering the progressive obsolescence of small gauge film stock, together with Nashashibi’s willingness to tackle subjects as diverse as a Scottish ballet school to the Gaza Strip, the films tease out the how and why of the “real,” and the degree of our participation in its construction.