In the lead up to artist Phil Collins’ major project for Queen’s Park and Festival 2014, The Common Guild presents this third and final screening event followed by a talk with the artist. This event provides an opportunity to view Collins’ previous work in advance of his project for Glasgow, 'Tomorrow Is Always Too Long'.
In ‘how to make a refugee’ 1999 (12 mins), Collins follows a crew of journalists as they arrange a photo shoot with a Kosovan Albanian family in a refugee camp across the border in Macedonia. Eschewing the conventions of reportage, the film exposes a network of incongruity, complicity and shame implicated in the production of images for political and aesthetic consumption.
‘zašto ne govorim srpski (na srpskom)’ ‘[why i don't speak serbian (in serbian)]’ 2008 (35 mins) addresses the relationship between language and memory in ethnically divided Kosovo. Departing from the community’s complicated relationship with Serbo-Croatian as a reflection of its ambivalence towards its recent history and identity, the film collects testimonies of a number of contributors—from politicians, intellectuals and public figures to ‘ordinary’ people—recounting in Serbian the reasons of why they no longer speak the language.
Event Details
This event was a precursor to Phil Collins’ project ‘Tomorrow Is Always Too Long’ which was commissioned by The Common Guild for Festival 2014. This event was the third in a series of three screening events to introduce the project.
