With its opening on Saturday 6 July, there’s just a few days to go now until we host a special David Lynch season of events here at HOME as part of this year’s Manchester International Festival. And, well, we are a teeny-weeny bit excited, to say the least!
Being a multi-talented creative of iconic status, Lynch can be considered a bit of a Renaissance Man. So it really wasn’t too difficult to flood the senses and find different ways to showcase his works in a whole-building dedicated season – there’s easily enough inspiring material to go around. Thus the HOME takeover includes such features as an exhibition of his art in the gallery (My Head is Disconnected), Lynch-inspired musician performances on the stage (David Lynch presents with Chrysta Bell), showings of his classic movies and his rarer short films, plus discussions, events, masterclasses….and more.
With the HOME building Lynch take-over occurring until 29 September 2019, there’s still time to plan a visit, so do come along and dive right in. But do be prepared for it to be rather busy!
So that we can also join in with all this Lynch-inspired fun, we thought it very timely to highlight some titles on our list that link quite neatly in to this exciting HOME takeover. Most of these books and DVD/Blu-Rays will also be available to purchase in the HOME shop, for the duration of the season. You’ll also have the opportunity to buy other David Lynch merchandise at the same time, like T-shirts, tote bags, mugs, cards, badges. If you are a David Lynch fan, then you’ll certainly be in your element here. HOME have also just announced (2nd July) a special limited edition print, designed by the artist, that will also be available to buy. An amazing opportunity to purchase a piece of Lynch’s artwork.
As you probably know, HOME is an art centre that not only shows the work of others, but also produces its own creations. HOME Artist Film is one such project. Set up in 2011 this groundbreaking project was specifically designed to get artists making long form and feature length films, and encourage them to use the opportunity to investigate new methods of production, distribution and exhibition. Many of the artist-led films since created (Island of Hungry Ghosts, Lek and the Dogs, Rey, Edith Walks, Rough Cut, Swan Down and Self Made) have resulted in being widely screened with some then made available to buy as a DVD and/or Blu-Ray. Click on the links above to find out more details.
Making films is probably what David Lynch is best known for. We also have several film-related titles on our list that tie-in quite nicely here:
Cinema Like Never Before offers to expand our thoughts on cinema by compiling different artistic and analytical practices that might just make us understand film differently.
Cinema of Art (Kino der Kunst) asks the big question – Are art museums the cinemas of the future? It argues that contemporary art is a new laboratory for new forms of narration, and that it offers a ray of hope for a film industry in serious creative crisis. This one includes an interview with Mr. Lynch himself, and features 8 of his watercolour paintings!
Cinema in the Expanded Field explores the practice of exhibiting artists’ cinema, their video and film installations. It comes out of a research project that was carried out by ECAL, offering case studies of film ‘exhibitions’, showing their more complicated cross-hybrid nature – not just the white cube or black box models.
Poetics of Cinema 2 is Raoul Ruiz’s follow up on the research he instigated for his first title of the same name, where he looked at how film could use new narrative models to represent a fast shifting world. Here he appeals for a totally new way of creating film.
In Raymond Bellour’s Between the Images twenty illustrated essays, written between 1981 and 1989 by one of the most prominent film theorists are presented together for the first time.
We hope you agree that a visit to HOME this summer will certainly be an interesting time, and one that you should try to put in your diaries. However, on the books front, if you don’t manage to make it in person, you always have the option of browsing our list of titles, and ordering them from the comfort of your own home. #WeArePartOfHOME