Against the backdrop of current political developments across the world, increasing uncertainty and ongoing wars, the question of who is granted the authority to make historical assessments and designations is explored, as is the possibility of other perspectives.
The installations, films, videos and performances from 30 countries thus bring fissures and ruptures to light, pointing to things seemingly forgotten whose presence remains palpable despite all the attempts made to deny them. Their often personal approaches open up spaces for self-reflection and remembrance.
In her haunting, minimalist found footage film EL LEÓN, Diana Bustamante combines video recordings of protests and public mourning surrounding the murders of university professors in Colombia in the 1980s and 90s to form a ghostly meditation on political violence.
In NARRATIVE, Anocha Suwichakornpong stages a tribunal in a film studio with those affected by a past massacre: a decade after the Thai military carried out killings of pro-democracy demonstrators, their surviving relatives are still fighting for recognition and justice.
Petna Ndaliko Katondolo and Laurent Van Lancker's YURUGU: INVISIBLE LINES deals with the fragmentation of the African continent and the effects of the so-called Congo Conference of 1885 still felt today.
UCHRONIA by Fil Ieropoulos writes a queer history of resistance and protest in the 20th century. The centrepiece and master of ceremonies for this kaleidoscopic tour de force: Arthur Rimbaud.
Group exhibition at the silent green Betonhalle
In the group exhibition at the silent green Betonhalle, Riar Rizaldi's installation FANFICTIE: VOLCANOLOGY addresses how Western colonial science grinds up against local knowledge production in Indonesia.
The convergence of scientific research and colonialism also forms the subject of BUTTERFLY STORIES: MALAISE II by Laurence Favre. Using stacked and layered slide projections that show collaged butterfly species, the artist creates a walk-in space of shimmering, floating images that defy strict categorisation.
LAND INVADERS by Cassandra Gardiner and Juan Mateo Menendez is the first ever video game to be featured in the Forum Expanded exhibition. Based on the arcade classic “Space Invaders”, players must prevent Christopher Columbus from reaching the shores of Turtle Island with his ships. The project is presented with the kind support of the Indigenous Screen Office.
Two expanded cinema performances
Forum Expanded is once again presenting two expanded cinema performances that transform the cinema space into a broader stage for image and sound with a multitude of analogue film and slide projections. Works by Singaporean performers Mark Chua and Lam Li Shuen (BORN OF THE YAM) and Danish duo Bigum + Björge (METANOIA) will be presented.
Restaurations from Germany, Egypt and Sudan
With the world premiere of the new restoration of Claudia von Alemann's and Reinold E. Thiel’s 1968 film EXPRMNTL 4 KNOKKE, Forum Expanded looks back at the history of experimental film in Europe and that of the legendary avant-garde film festival held in a Belgian seaside resort.
An additional programme of restored films shows one work by Egyptian filmmaker Atteyat Al Abnoudy (SAD SONG OF TOUHA from 1972) and Sudanese director Hussein Shariffe (THE DISLOCATION OF AMBER from 1975), respectively. The films were restored by Cimatheque Cairo.
In memory of Ken and Flo Jacobs, the American avant-garde film pioneers who passed away in 2025, their short film LET THERE BE WHISTLEBLOWERS (Forum Expanded 2007) will be screened once again.
Forum Expanded is curated by Ulrich Ziemons (section head), Karina Griffith, and Shai Heredia.
