Directors lounge: The Destructive Power of Happiness
Video and Film Works by Riccardo Iacono
Thursday, 23 September 2010, 21h
Z-Bar, Bergstraße 2, 10115 Berlin-Mitte

Riccardo Iacono, London-based artist and filmmaker, presents a selection of films and video from three different bodies of work: abstract videos, hand-painted films and performance tapes (produced between 1993-2007).

“The title of the programme has nothing to do with the works that will be screening, I just found it interesting” — his statement already shows a quality also to be found in his work; with a gentle sarcasm, he likes to confront prejudices with opposing strategies. The trained painter (Glasgow School of Art) found his way to 16mm film through video collaborations with musicians both in contemporary Musique Concr ète and rave events. ”A major influence on my early work was William Burroughs' Electronic Revolution (1970), which discusses the use of recording, looping and feedback to stimulate and escalate riots.”… “I began making abstract hand-painted films in 1993, following a screening of Stan Brakhage and Pat O'Neil films on Television. I started to read books by Brakhage, but there were limited resources for seeing artists' moving image works in Glasgow back in the late 80's.”