Available NOW to pre-order online - SUIT: PAL DVD - Limited Edition of 500

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SUIT - A visual/audio collage and a sculptural experience

Suit is a film about an artist, a filmmaker and a musician. It is also a film about a suit.

Conceptually the film began as a way of exploring the purchase of a suit from a second hand clothes shop in Brighton and how sculptor Dave Stephens subsequently responded to the suit. Filmmaker Matt Brownsword filmed the experience over a period of two days. During that time the suit was worn by a variety of people of different ages, sizes and genders. Trips were taken around Brighton. It was sewn up and filled with sand, struggled with, fought with and eventually emptied. Tied up, covered, attached to other objects and introduced to other suits. Drawings were made of it and photos were taken.

A visual/audio collage and a sculptural experience, the film is about process.

The passing of time is central and yet is a non-linear experience. Change and transience entwine to explore the elements of production within the film experience. Like a constantly changing set of building blocks, the experience of the makers and their response to each stage of the project is reflected in the rich experience, which has become the final outcome.
The footage from these days were chopped, rearranged, edited and reformed into an 8-minute film. The visual dynamics were the most important aspect of the process with the narrative aspects of the film becoming incidental. The film was then looped in order to make a 40-minute film in 5 sections. This was then presented to Steve Beresford who has produced an 8-minute piece of music in response to the original loop. Steve has then taken that piece of music and slightly changed it each time so that the over the 40 minutes of the film there is a constancy but that constancy is changing and developing with the film.


The final DVD is then looped so that the experience is continuous and endless.

SUIT will be exhibited at:

Cross-Channel Exhibition - Phoenix Gallery, Brighton August 28 2004-October 9 2004.

An installation by Dave Stephens which will include the DVD as a central thing within the sculpture will be shown as part of the Cross Channel Exhibition. Other artists taking part in the exhibtion will be from France: Stephane Cauchy, Cathy Christiaen, Bruno Desplanques, Andy Kraft, Amelie Lerebourg, and Gauthier Leroy; from England: Nadine Feinson, John Holland, Angela Rogers.

Dave Stephens’ recent work has dealt with installation sculpture. The materials tend to be fragile e.g. clothing, rope, wool. Each piece is made either specifically for the exhibition space or for recording. This recording takes the form of photography or film. These records become either independent pieces within themselves or become embroiled in later incarnations of the sculpture. Recent work has been influenced by nest building, knots and anchorage. Inanimate objects become entwined in complex linear forms, taking on abstract forms within figurative preconceptions. Recent presentations of his work have been at Baltic Art Gallery, Gateshead, Hereford Museum, Wednesbury Museum and Alfred East Art Centre, Kettering.
Matt Brownsword has been involved in film making for almost 10 years. His films encompass experimental, narrative and documentary forms. Previous work includes a super 8 film shot in India, Playmobil animation and ‘Buckethead’, a digital short film commissioned by The UK Film Council. Matt’s films have been screened in UK, including Glastonbury Festival and Meridian TV as well as internationally in France and the US.
Steve Beresford is a musician and improviser who continues to push forward the boundaries of expression and composition within the field of contemporary music. He has worked extensively with sound for film and television as well as being involved in numerous projects since the early 70’s in collaborations with an impressive number of other musicians such as Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, David Toop and Han Bennink. His work with the London Improvisors Orchestra and the Dedication Orchestra has been recognised as a key influence within the success of these enterprises. Steve has recently returned from being artist/musician in residence at Western Front, Vancouver.
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