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(is this a love letter or a suicide note?)
Created during a Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, Italy this video takes us
on a disembodied journey through the labyrinthine gardens and ruins overlooking Lake
Como.
The passage of time, light, and people is central to this work where location and
landscape become devices to explore enclosure and isolation – both physical and
psychological states.
Intersecting paths open out into seemingly impossible locations, mysterious doors set
into the rock reveal secret passageways, and as the cicadas call, a sense of languor
gives way to obsession and an unraveling of sanity.
During the residency Mortimer mapped the grounds through thousands of still
photographs, recorded each day’s weather through timelapse photography and further
documented the location with video. Her diary forms the narrative base of the work, a
confessional and intimate essay referencing Calvino, Mann, Twain and Borges whilst
recording a personal response to the isolation and beauty of this place.
Roz Mortimer’s work exists at the intersection of fact and fiction. Her videos often subtly
undermine the constructs of society and address issues we would prefer to leave
unearthed. Earlier works unpicked notions of Englishness, whereas more recent films
have focused on specific global locations from the High Arctic to the Italian Lakes to
create layered and thought provoking portraits which blur the boundaries between
staged theatre and documentary.
FILMOGRAPHY
2007 Passages. 20mins video
2006 Invisible. 63mins video
2005 Tales from the Arctic Circle. 4x3mins video
2003 Safety Tips For Kids 5 mins video
2002 Gender Trouble. 24 min video
2001 Dog of My Dreams.12min 35mm
2000 Neverland. 13 min video/16mm
1999 Airshow. 4 min. video
1998 Wormcharmer. 9 mins. 16mm
1996 The Making of Finland in Three Movements. 6 mins. video
1995 Bloodsports For Girls. 12 mins. 16mm
Selected group shows and screenings
2007
Group shows: Crime Scene, Galerie Adler, Frankfurt am Main, Germany • Velocity at Folly,
Lancashire, UK
Screenings: Conversation in Film at The British Museum, London • Institute of Contemporary Arts
(ICA), London • DocHouse at Barbican Cinema, London • Dokumentarkino, Oslo, Norway • NOW,
The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), Spain • LOOP Video Art Fair,
Barcelona, Spain • Institut Municipal d'Acció Cultal, Lleida, Spain • Museum of Granollers, Spain •
Principal Theater of Olot, Spain • Art Centre Cal Massó of Reus, Spain • Human Rights Centre,
Colchester, UK • Picturehouse Cinema, Cambridge, UK • Melancholic States, International
Conference, Institute for Women's Studies, Lancaster University, UK • Curzon Mayfair, London •
Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth, • Oxdox Film Festival • Ann Arbour Film Festival, USA • Britspotting
Film Festival, Berlin • Ecofilms, Rhodos International Film Festival, Greece • Cambridge Film
Festival, UK • Camden International Film Festival, Maine, USA • DOCSDF 2nd International
Documentary Film Festival of México City • Cinema Verite, Iran International Documentary Film
Festival • Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival, Toronto, Canada • Festival dei
Popoli, International Documentary Film Festival, Florence, Italy • Alternativa, 14th Independent Film
Festival of Barcelona, Spain • PSBT International Film Festival on Gender and Sexuality, New Delhi,
India • Shadow Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands • Mecal //10th Festival Internacional de
Cortometrajes de Barcelona, Spain • Channel 4 Television, UK
2006
European Media Art Festival, Germany. • Channel 4 Television, UK
2005
Group shows: NGBK (New Society for Visual Arts), Berlin. 1-0-1 Intersex (group show) • NOASS
Video “World Video Art”, Riga, Latvia
Screenings: Oberhausen International Film Festival, Germany • International Women & Health Film
Festival, New Delhi, India • Question de Genre Festival, Lille, France • • Shadow Festival,
Amsterdam • Ladyfest, Neurnberg, Germany • Goethe Institute, Kyoto, Japan • Muu, Mostrra Curtas
Metragens, Portugal • Goethe Institute, Toulouse, France • Filmtheatre ‘t Hoogt, Utrecht,
Netherlands • Filmbar, Hildesheim, Germany • Sundance Channel, USA • VPRO, Netherlands •
Channel 4 Television, UK.
2004
Screenings: World Social Forum, Human Rights Film Festival. Mumbai, India • Experiments in
Moving Image. Lumiere Cinema, London • Out at the Movies, New York, USA • Chicago
International Documentary Festival, USA • European Media Art Festival, Osnabruck, Germany •
COURTisane Festival of Film Video and New Media, Ghent, Belgium • Seattle International
Documentary Festival at the Seattle Art Museum, USA • Hamburg International Short Film Festival,
Germany • Odense International Film Festival, Denmark • Split Festival of Film, Video and New
Media, Croatia • Viper Festival of Film Video and New Media, Switzerland • Kassel Documentary
Film and Video Festival, Germany • Brief Encounters Short Film Festival, UK • Adelaide Feast Film
Festival, Australia • Channel 4 Television UK • Sundance Channel USA.
2003
Group shows: “Living in this Mess”, Morley Gallery, London
Screenings: Directora, Neurenberg Filmhaus, Germany • Kasseler Documentary Film Festival,
Germany • Chicago Documentary Film Festival, USA • Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival,
Greece • Films de Femmes International Festival of Women Directors, France • British Council
Film Festival in Israel • COURTisane Festival, Ghent, Belgium • London Lesbian and Gay Film
Festival, UK • Frameline San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, USA • Milan International
G&L Film Festival, Italy • Budapest G&L Film Festival, Hungary • Larzish Tremors of Revloution
Human Rights Film Festival, India • Hull Screen, UK • Fact Center, Liverpool, UK • Goethe Institute,
Danzig, Poland • Goethe Institute, Warschau,Poland • Goethe Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia •
Goethe Institute, Guadalajara, Mexico • Caixa Forum, Barcelona • Premier Plans, Angers, France •
Sundance Channel USA.
2002
Group shows: Eisner Museum, Milwaukee, USA • ‘Homemade’ Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
Screenings: Oberhausen Film Festival, Germany • European Media Arts Festival, Osnabruck,
Germany • Odense International Film Festival, Denmark • Feminale Film Festival, Cologne,
Germany • VIPER International Festival of Film, Video and New Media, Switzerland • Stuttgard
Filmwinter, Festival of Film Video and New Media, Germany • Message to Man Film Festival, St
Petersburg, Russia • Ritzy Cinema, London • Metro Cinema, London • Cornerhouse, Manchester
• Glasgow Film Theatre • Dartington Barn • National Museum of Film & TV, Bradford • Broadway
Media Center, Nottingham • Goethe Institute, Chicago, USA • KoKi, Freiburg, Germany • Kino 46,
Bremen, Germany.
2001
Group shows: “Digital Dialogues”, Firstsite Gallery, Colchester
Screenings: London Film Festival, UK • International Festival of Women Directors (Filmes de
Femmes), France • Brief Encounters Festival, UK • Pandæmonium Biennale of Moving Images,
Lux, London • Harwich Film Festival, UK
2000
Solo shows: “Neverland” Focal Point Gallery, UK.
Group shows: IKON Gallery, Birmingham, UK, group show.
Screenings: Tampere International Short Film Festival, Finland • Lux Centre, London. DNet. • Viper
Film Festival, Switzerland • Impakt Media Arts Festival, Netherlands • European Media Art Festival,
Osnabrück, Germany • Goethe Institute, Warsaw, Poland • Goethe Institute, Krakaw, Poland •
Goethe Institute, Hong Kong • Goethe Institute, Bangalore, India • Goethe Institute, Glasgow, UK •
Neues Kino, Basel, Switzerland • KoKi Cinemas in Gieflen and Eschborn, Germany • Kunsterhaus,
Dortmund and Hannover, Germany • LUX centre, London,
1999
Group shows: “ReForm” online exhibition + catalogue.
Screenings; Oberhausen International Film Festival, Germany • European Media Art Festival,
Osnabrück, Germany • Impakt Media Arts Festival, Netherlands • New Zealand Film Festival •
Bangladesh Film Festival, India • Split Film Festival, Croatia • Festival of European Films, Ankara,
Turkey. • Frankfurt Film Museum, Germany • WK-Gallery, Hannover, Germany • HBK
Braunschweig, Germany • Proyectos Culturales, Madrid, Spain • Danish Film Institute,
Copenhagen, Denmark • Canal +, Europe.
1998
Group shows: “Evidence”, Maidstone Museum.
Screenings: London Film Festival. UK • Odense International Film Festival, Denmark • Sao Paulo
International Short Film Festival, Brazil • LUX, London • Montreal International Festival of New
Cinema, Canada.
1997
Group shows: “Revealing”. Focal Point Gallery, UK
Screenings: Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London. “Broads Perspectives - Spinning the Tale”
1996
Group shows: “Divers Memories”, Pielisen Museum, Lieksa, Finland.
Screenings: Chicago International Film Festival, USA • Cinewoman Festival, UK • Feminale
International Film Festival, Cologne, Germany
PUBLICATIONS
“ReForm”
Pub. Moving Houses. ISBN 0953576701 Co-curator and co-editor.
“Talking Back to Science: Art Science and the Personal”
Pub. The Wellcome Trust. Dist. Cornerhouse. ISBN 1 841290 52 1
“1-0-1 intersex. Das Zwei-Geschlechter-System als Menschenrechtsverletzung”
Pub. NGBK, New Society for Visual Arts, Berlin. ISBN 3-926796-95-2
“Stories Behind the Screen - Recent Video Art by Ten European Video Artists”
Pub. European Media Art Festival (EMAF) and Virtual Centre Media Net (VCM)
“Muistoja Syvalta: Divers Memories”
Pub: Univ of Northumbria at Newcastle. ISBN: 0 9528772 0 1
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2006 Arts Council England & Film London LAFVA award
2004 Wellcome Trust sciart Production award
2004 Rockefeller Foundation residency at Bellagio Study Center, Italy.
2003 Wellcome Trust Sciart Research & Development award
2002 Arts Council England/Channel 4 animate! award
2001 Wellcome Trust Science on Stage and Screen award
2000 Arts Council England & Film London LAFVA award
2000 Arts Council England Year of the Artist award
2000 Tampere International Film Festival award, Finland.
1998 Arts Council England award
1997 Arts Council England award
1996 Arts Council of England New Collaborations Research and Development Award
1993 Arts Council of England Artist's Film & Video Production Award
website
www.wonder-dog.co.uk
