Ben RIVERS

Ah, Liberty! Experimental doc. | 16mm | black and white | 16'0'' | United Kingdom | 2008 © ben rivers A family’s place in the wilderness, outside of time; free-range animals and children, junk and nature, all within the most sublime landscape. The work aims at an idea of freedom, which is reflected in the hand-processed Scope format but is undercut, with a sense of foreboding. There is no particular story, just fragments of lives lived, rituals performed. Ben Rivers studied Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art. Since then he has worked predominantly in 16mm film, showing in galleries and international festivals, where he has won a number of awards. Most recent shows include; `If` Bloomberg Space, London; `Nought to Sixty`, ICA, London; `On Overgrown Paths` Permanent Gallery, Brighton. Other text “To name an attitude black and white suggests reduction, but in this rural, ethnographic portrait the artist unravels a thousand tones of each. How long does it take until this overflowing bath becomes a lake, until the simple forest drive (there is nothing simple here) tranforms these children into airborne angels of light? There is a tender brutality at work here, nothing is polished or smooth or well rounded, instead the advventure of seeing is undertaken ready to fall and bruise, to be wounded by its search. And it is from this necessary wound that the artist joins in with the life of a family grown wild out of doors with the horses and chickens. For its compassion, its refusal of the sentimental, its quick witted montage and dramaturgy of the everyday, the Tiger Award goes to Ah, Liberty!” (Jury Statement, Rotterdam International Film Festival 2008) List of exhibition, filmography... Origin of the Species (16 min, 16mm, col, 2008) Sørdal (8 min, 16mm, col, 2008) Ah, Liberty! (20 min, 16mm scope, b/w, 2008) House (single-screen version, 5 min, 16mm, b/w, 2007) Dove Coup (2 min, 16mm, b/w, 2007) Greenhouse (3 min, 16mm, b/w+col, 2007) Terror! (24 min, video, col, 2006) The Coming Race (5 min, 16mm, b/w, 2006) Astika (9 min, 16mm, col, 2006) This Is My Land (14 min, 16mm, b/w, 2006) House (8 min twin screen installation, 16mm, b/w, 2005) The Bomb with a Man in his Shoe (16 min, 16mm, b/w, 2005) The Hyrcynium Wood (3 min, 16mm cinemascope, b/w, 2005) Harrachov (collab. Matt Hulse/Joost van Veen, 10 min, S8/16mm, b/w, 2005) Point Blanc (collaboration with Matt Hulse, 5 min, S8, b/w, 2005) We The People (1 min, 16mm, b/w, 2004) The Ironworks (6 min, 16mm, col, 2004) Old Dark House (4 min, 16mm, b/w, 2003) The Joy of Walking (17 min, 16mm, b/w, 2000) The Ministry of Biscuits (5 min, 16mm, b/w, 1998) The Big Feast (10 min loop, S8, 1994) The Big Sink (15 min, S8, b/w, 1993)