Art, cinema and music at the fifth St. Moritz Art Film Festival
In the Engadin, the fifth edition of SMAFF for video art enthusiasts and collectors, featuring a top-class programme
Key points
From 20 to 23 August, the fifth edition of the St. Moritz Art Film Festival was held in St. Moritz. A festival dedicated to art films and videos and to the interactions between the two media. The focus of this year’s festival was a third medium: music – not so much as a soundtrack or accompanying element, but rather as a metaphor, with films viewed as a symphony in their poetic flow of images and visions; hence the title of this year’s festival, ‘If Music’.
The team
SMAFF is one of the many initiatives that emerged during the Covid pandemic as an act of artistic resistance, and one of the few that, five years on, has managed to evolve whilst retaining its raison d’être. The artistic direction is entrusted to Stefano Rabolli Pansera, whilst the managerial role is held by Diana Segantini. The president is Martin Hatebur, one of Switzerland’s best-known art collectors and president of the Kunsthalle Basel. Most of the screenings took place at an unusual venue, the Dracula Club – the undisputed centre of high society in the Swiss town – and at the Scala cinema; These were veritable video marathons from morning till night, with more than 50 screenings over the three days of the Festival; the incessant rain was a blessing for those hours spent immersed in cinema.
The Italians
With a strong contingent of Italian artists, the Festival kicked off with a video by Renato Leotta, “Concertino, 8 variations on a memory”. A journey through the Mediterranean guided by salicornia, an aquatic plant. It inspires the musical composition – a voice that bridges the plant world and humankind; his works, on sale at Sprovieri, are priced between 8,000 and 90,000 euros. Anna Franceschini presents “Nothing is More Mysterious. A Fact That is Well Explained”, set at the Pianola Museum in Amsterdam; an intense exploration showing how machines can become means of expression, transforming the score of a mechanical piano into a visual experience. Here too, music takes centre stage with the soundtrack by Koen Nutters. The video is being offered by the Vistamare gallery at 10,000 euros plus VAT. There is also space for the very young Giulia Guidi with “Flying Glove” (1,5,7), a series of animated videos in which a glove billowing in the wind moves through space: 5,000 euros for the video offered by the Satine gallery in Venice. Among the curators involved is Leonardo Bigazzi, curator of the Rome-based In Between Art Film Foundation, who presented two works by Jonathas de Andrade: “Jangadeiros e Canoeiros” and the highly acclaimed “Olho da Rua”, in which the Rio-born artist stages an imposing collective performance in Recife’s main square, addressing key issues in contemporary Brazil such as social inequality, all emphasised by the powerful soundtrack of percussionist Homero Basilio. The film is part of the collections at MoMA and Inhotim; his videos are priced between 30,000 and 50,000 euros, and he is represented by Galleria Continua and Nara Roesler.
Let the music play
It takes just one minute of Michael E. Smith’s film to showcase his visionary talent through a mesmerising sequence of sounds, images and sudden changes in lighting within an archaeological museum; $10,000 for the video “Screw” presented by Zero Gallery… Among the most moving films is “The Singing Lesson I”, by Artur Zmijewski, in which a group of deaf-mute Polish youths perform to the notes of “Kyrie” by Jan Maklakiewicz inside a church in Warsaw, accompanied by the solemn sound of the organ. A performance as unsettling as it is moving. Zmijewski is represented by Peter Kilchmann, with prices reaching up to 100,000 euros.
Video as a document
Not just video art, but also videos about artists, such as the documentary by Fabio Cherstich ‘Lucia di Luciano – Verificare l’utopia’. A deeply sensitive insight into the life of the Sicilian artist, a pioneer of programmed art and co-founder of Gruppo 63. The documentary is an intimate interview with di Luciano conducted a few years before her death, in which her total dedication to her work – almost a beloved obsession – shines through. The soundtrack was curated by the artist’s son, Oscar Pizzo. This video will bring further attention to an artist whose profile is rapidly rising, having been revitalised by her participation in the ‘Il Latte dei Sogni’ Biennale organised by Cecilia Alemanni in 2022, following years of relative obscurity. The work has been supported since 2015 by the 10 A.M. Art Gallery in Milan; his works are valued at between 18,000 and 120,000 euros.
