Biennial of Moving Images: Isla Leaver Yap
The inaugural LUX/ICA Biennial of Moving Images kicks off its 4-day run this Thursday with underground films, rare screenings and the revival of a legendary club night, Little Stabs at Happiness.
We asked Isla Leaver-Yap, editor of the Biennial's Live Journal, a couple of questions about what we can expect in the next few days...
What’s your involvement with the Biennial?
I'll be editing and commissioning the Biennial's Live Journal, the blog that runs alongside the biennial programme. There are four of us on the Live Journal team, working each day of the biennial. We'll be reporting on unfolding events, interviewing the artists, curators and performers here at the ICA, as well as responding to the themes that arise from a biennial like this. It's an opportunity for the biennial audience (both present and remote) to experience the world that happens around the programme. The Live Journal will respond in real time via the blog and live updates. Busy times ahead! The blog will also become the legacy document of the biennial, an archive in progress.
Who will be writing for the journal and what different approaches will they bring?
We put out an open call for writers a couple of months back, looking for individuals interested in developing their writing skills within the biennial, which will be a collaborative, fast-paced publishing environment. From that call we selected Amy Budd, Thomas Morgan Evans and Jonathan P Watts. All three have got distinct writing styles, not to mention different tastes when it comes to the events and screenings that they'll be covering, which is important in allowing different voices and perspectives on the biennial programme to come to the fore.
Who will they be interviewing?
It's a long list! I can tell you what I'm working on right now: Jonathan and I are going over his interview with Mark Webber. Jonathan was interested in the context of Mark's screening programme, Little Stabs at Happiness, which was originally a club night at the ICA from 1997-2000. As the launch event of this year's biennial, Little Stabs at Happiness is an interesting return, rather than solely a beginning. Oh, and I'm beginning to work with Amy on an interview with Rachel Reupke, who is showing Containing Matters of no very peaceable Colour. Amy's looking at way in which Rachel uses stock photography as a kind of dislocation of context. Thomas is lining up his interviews as we speak.
When will it begin?
We'll be going live Thursday at noon. There's some material we're planning to release, and a lot that will be generated on the spot. The main intention is to be light on our feet.
Where can we follow your writing and the live updates?
You can find us on the blog here - biennialofmovingimages.org.uk - but we'll also be following the talks and events programmes via live updates on Twitter at @LUXICA_journal - and our Facebook page. Come join the debate.
