Lectures » With With: Everything but an Artist Talk » Mara Montoya
16.06.2011
Corner College, 7 pm
Audiovisual Memories
Presentation and video excerpts by Mara Montoya
The question of “memory” is associated with the question of time, imprints, traces and traditions. In its collective and social dimensions “memory” constitutes a political tool for the promotion of cohesion and is at the same time interwoven with questions of individual and shared identities.
Mara Montoya's talk deals with the intersections of personal history, collective memory and how they connect with each other through events, restricting her presentation to Congo related movies.
Within her talk she will show her video essay “Memories of Glory” (2011, 12 Min.) which explores the symbolic core of Brussels through an analysis of the Royal Park, embodying the city's architecture, politics, and Belgium's relation to the Congo. In the first part of her presentation Mara will reflect and try to understand the function of remembering, which is not the opposite of forgetting, but rather its lining. As Chris Marker said, “We do not remember, we rewrite memory much as history is rewritten”.
In the second part, Mara will point out personal history exploring a video excerpt from “Good Bye Mandima” (2010, 10 Min.) by Robert-Jan Lacombe, where the French/Dutch filmmaker looks back on the day of his departure to France. The story is based on a panoramic photography where he recalls his first ten years living in Mandima, Zaire, now Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the third part, Mara will show “History Lessons” (2003, 5 Min.), where Belgian video artist Sarah Vanagt filmed a history class in the edge of Lake Kuvu in Rwanda. The children in this classroom where born in 1994, the year of the genocide. Since 1994, history has been officially suspended from the school’s curriculum. For ten years, the teacher of this class has been waiting for new, rewritten manuals. In this last part Mara will study the collective memory and mention historiography.
Born 1984 in the United States is a video artist based in Zurich. Mara studied Media Arts at Zurich University of the Arts and Film at Saint-Lukas Brussels University. She makes video essays and documentaries. Mara is interested in geo-political, post-colonial, and migration related topics.
Robert-Jan Lacombe
Born in 1986 in Mandima, Zaire (now DRC). Joint French and Dutch citizenship. Since 2006 lives in Switzerland. Since 2007 attends the ECAL (École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne), cinema department.
Sarah Vanagt
Born in 1976, lives in Brussels. She studied history at the universities of Antwerp, Sussex and Groningen, and film at the National Film and Television School (UK). She makes documentaries, video installations and photos.