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Esther Urlus

wetenschap & techniek , performance , internationaal , installatie , film , Experimenteel , DIY , cross-over , Audiovisueel

"In my film work I create a link between specific historical events and stories and the (re) use of analog film techniques and inventions from the early days of photography and cinematography. I force a sometimes alienating parallel between the events or the story and the cinematic technique, to enhance the impact of the image. In addition, I create my own film material, literally, by mixing silver nitrate and bromide salt with gelatin and water to form a light-sensitive emulsion. I'm not looking for a naturalist, commercial like film material, outcome. I intend to create unique components that, by its singularity, generates a special and cinematic experience. "

studie voor een veldslag – 16mm colour, optical sound, 6’30 min - study for a battle is inspired by the late medieval sketches of falling horses, especially from Pisanello. In thin lines on yellowed paper you can see the soft contours of falling and fallen horses. They look pretty funny, and also peaceful, in their awkward poses. But it is clear from the caption that these are studies of horses' falling on the battlefield, sketches intended to be elaborated into war spectacle pieces. The film investigates a printing technique that produces a kind of 3D relief in film - a special effect from surreal analogue photography, early 20th century - in which the photographic image in bas-relief seems to be sculpted. An image that is very similar to the lines of a pencil or pen drawing. The colors in the film are based on the 20 pastel (piss) shades of the medieval Epiphanie Medicorum, a color wheel used for medical diagnosis. study for a battle premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019
Deletion - 16/35mm colour film, 12 min. - Suggestion allows negative space to be discerned – a hint of absent image – in an immersive cloud of coloured granules. Its substantiation lies in the viewer’s imagination, coloured by the dark ambient soundtrack of composer Ji Youn Kang. Deletion was shot on 16mm using home-made emulsion inspired by the more than a century-old autochrome colour process. Deletion was nominated for the Tiger Shorts International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017 and nominated for The Award for Best Short Film Edinburgh International Film Festival 2017
Konrad & Kurfurst - 16mm, toned hand made B&W silver emulsion, optical sound, 7 min - The home-brewed emulsion is a fragile metaphor for the heroism of Konrad and his horse Kurfurst during the Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936. Falling from his horse, he became a national hero, only to become an anti-hero when overtaken by history. Made by consulting technical publications from early cinema and photographic experiments. Awarded with a Special Mention International Jury Kurtzfilmtage Oberhausen (D) 2014
Vertical Cinema: Chrome - 35mm vertical cinemascope, Dolby Stereo sound, 8 min. - It is a strange illusion: the images are filmed on black-and-white emulsion but we see colour. This is Autochrome, an early experiment with film colouring by the Lumières that combines particles of coloured potato starch, glass plates and black-and-white emulsion. The result? Colours that go beyond nature. Commissioned by Sonic Acts Amsterdam

Adele Hugo: experimental opera for one singer

In samenwerking met: composer: Cinzia Nistico, vocalist/actor Anat Spiegel

Made, and performed, a solely analog light and visuals setting with five 16mm and 3 slide projectors for the experimental opera for one singer: Adele Hugo

Based on the biographic story of Adele Hugo, daughter of famous writer Victor Hugo, who, almost two centuries ago, crossed the ocean on her own to stalk, with a fanaticism bordering on madness, a lieutenant she rejected.

Premiered at the Fringe Festival Amsterdam 5-6-7 September 2019. Now on tour

https://vimeo.com/367976312

Embrace the Strange

Locatie: Alchemy Film + Arts Symposium

Talk and presentation about accidental results in my artistic work

https://alchemyfilmandarts.org.uk/esther-urlus/

Sharing

Locatie: Czech National Film Archive

presentation and panelist at the International Congres of FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives)

http://fiaf2018.nfa.cz/

The Intervening Substance

Locatie: Universitat der Künste Berlin

presentation and panelist at the International Symposium - Film In The Present Tense

https://www.udk-berlin.de/universitaet/fakultaet-gestaltung/institute/institut-fuer-zeitbasierte-medien/filminstitut/film-in-the-present-tense/

Materiality of images

Locatie: Escuela De Cine Elias Querejeta – Zine Eskola

Early Silver Gelatin Emulsions

Starting from Scratch

Locatie: Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema + Sound, Erasmus University College Brussels

film introduction into the do-it-yourself method

Back to the Future Festival

Locatie: WORM
In samenwerking met: Filmwerkplaats

a festival for analogue moving images and optical sound; a celebration of the analogue film with an international programme of audio-visual performances, films, presentations, lectures and installations. Back to the Future: Project! focuses on the future of the film medium, in terms of contemporary artistic developments embedded in a historical context.

https://filmwerkplaats.org/?back-to-the-future

REMI

Locatie: Europe
In samenwerking met: Mire, Nantes France + Labor Berlin, Germany

a two-year European cooperation project run by Mire (Nantes, FR), Filmwerkplaats (Rotterdam, NL) and LaborBerlin (Berlin, DE). Focused on the creation, preservation and circulation of technical knowledge of analogue film in order to support its use as a creative medium. REMI was co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

www.re-mi.eu/

Re:inventing the pioneer

a (un-going) research onto handmade silver gelatin emulsions and color methods. Following the footsteps of the early pioneers of the photochemical film medium.

https://estherurlus.nl/visuals
Moving Panorama ‘Grande Finale’
Esther Urlus Moving Panorama ‘Grande Finale’