“I Watched the White Dogs of the Dawn” (2018)
Sound. A polyphony of wind, breaking waves, shrieking gulls, and rattling ships. The sea: a place of memories for those who survive her, a mother who confronts us with the powers of nature. Circulating and all-encompassing. Beneath her horizon there is only darkness and mystery. The separation of air and water creates a different world. A place where other rules and other laws apply.
In Kilmore Quay, the perspective of the fish is the only one that matters. Generations of fishermen caught lobsters, oysters, and cod there. They believed that their work was a kind of prayer and only caught enough to survive, to spare the sea. Times were good. There was plenty of money and plenty of work – until the European fisheries quotas arrived on their shores.
Written and directed by Els Dietvorst, camera: Hans Bruch Jr., editing: Fairuz, sound design: Gedeon Depauw, music: Laura Hyland, production: Escautville, co-production: Kaaitheater, Argos, Panache, support: Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Arts Council of Ireland.
Language, subtitles: English. Duration: 52 min.
Tickets 6€/3€, provides access to the inaugural exhibition of Kai twice.
Els Dietvorst (b. 1964, Belgium) is a socially engaged artist, who uses her visual work as a means of creating social involvement. She graduates from the Sint Lucas School of Arts in Antwerp and holds a Master of Fine Art from the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. Dietvorst lives and works in Ireland since 2010.
More information: http://elsdietvorst.be/
This screening is a part of the series of public events taking place across the three international group shows in the main programme of Tallinn Photomonth for which the curators of each exhibition were asked to suggest an event for one of the other venues of the biennial.
The film by Els Dietvorst was proposed to be shown at Kai Art Center, in the context of the exhibition “Let the field of your attention…. soften and spread out” (curator: Hanna Laura Kaljo) by Heidi Ballet – a Belgian independent curator based in Berlin with a background in Chinese Studies and a research interest in oceanic territory. She is the curator of Tallinn Photomonth opening exhibition “When You Say We Belong To The Light We Belong To The Thunder” on show at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM) until October 20.