Art Office

On Wednesday, May 15, Off Screen and Studio Art Office will present a selection of short films and art videos in WORM. The films were partly made possible thanks to a financial boost through the schemes Practical contribution and Research & Development (R&D). The filmmakers are interviewed in English by Luca Tichelman (Off Screen) and Petra Laaper (Studio Art Office). All films are subtitled.

The Spectacular: How small can the all-encompassing absence be?
Marco Douma & Roel Meelkop
2024, 10 minutes
Does mass fill the image in this film with meaning? Or is it a vacuum that erases the image and transforms the film? Rotterdam visual artist Marco Douma makes digitally edited images of charcoal drawings, creating what he calls an 'indefinable space'. With slowed-down, abstract music by co-director Roel Meelkop The Spectacular a reflection on the intersection of time and space.

Riflesso sull'Arco
Olphaert den Otter
2024, work in progress, 10 min
At the invitation of composer Richard Rijnvos, Den Otter is working on an animated film to accompany the piece of music of the same name. Given the dynamic nature of the piece, he expands his film experience in the field of movement and layering and changes his analogue working process;
How can layering be drawn, painted or digitally produced as well as integrated and timed?

Red Dust
Katja Verheul
2024, 17 minutes
A few times a year the sky turns red in France. Sand dust from the Sahara is guided from North Africa to Southern Europe by an air pressure difference. This dust, a time capsule of caesium-137 from the French nuclear tests in Algeria, covers everything. The film exposes the impact of a war that was never fought. A French veteran and archeology students share and speculate about what will be remembered and what will remain hidden beneath the sand forever.

A Cactus, A Ladder and a Boot
Salvador Miranda
2023, 10 minutes
This short film follows three young Mexican-American women as they play a game of "Heads Up" in the shadow of the border wall. Using cards from the Mexican game “Lotería,” they take turns guessing the card taped to their foreheads, while these cards, laden with Mexican stereotypes and expressions, take on symbolic meaning against the backdrop of the border wall on a separate screen . A Cactus, A Ladder and a Boot delves into the complexities of mixed identity and the evolving iconography of the borderland.

Trees of Rotterdam
Alice Ladenburg & Ollie Palmer
2024, 12 mins
The film is a portrait of the city of Rotterdam and its greenest inhabitants: the trees, of which there are more than people. In a single virtual shot in monochrome we fly straight through the city and hear stories about these green giants. The artificiality of the images apparently contrasts with the depicted nature, but ultimately intertwines with it. Just as the city also embraces its trees and vice versa.

Practical Information
Date: Wednesday 15 May 2024
Time: 20: 15 - 22: 30 hours
Location: WORM Rotterdam
Tickets: €7,50 or free with Cineville pass