Artists' Film Club: Naheed Raza

Edinburgh-based artist Naheed Raza presents her ‘Tomorrow Never Knows ’ commission Frozen in Time, alongside other recent works. The screening is followed by a Q&A with writer Eleanor Nairne, writer in Residence at Jerwood Visual Arts.

Continuing the trajectory of her pilot project Frozen in Time, Naheed Raza’s new commission deepens her exploration of the phenomenon of cryonics. Pioneered in the 1960s by the American scientist Robert Ettinger, cryonics is premised on preserving and storing the human body at sub-zero temperatures in the hope that it can be recovered and reanimated in the future when medical technology is more advanced. Featuring interviews with leading figures in the field (and members of the public who have requested that their bodies are preserved for posterity), Raza’s video is punctuated with atmospheric footage shot at various cryonics institutes in the USA. Evocative, compelling and strangely affecting, the piece foregrounds the medical and philosophical uncertainties surrounding the extension of life and our definitions of death.

Naheed Raza is an artist whose practice is informed by her background and training in science. Her works are characterised by a sense of fragility, transience and a tactile engagement with materials such as spider’s silk or shifting sand. By experimenting with and depicting these materials, Raza invites us to consider both their physical properties and their metaphorical possibilities.

This event is realised in conjunction with 'Tomorrow Never Knows: Ed Atkins and Naheed Raza', 16 January - 24 February at JVA at Jerwood Space, London, a collaboration between Film and Video Umbrella and Jerwood Visual Arts.