MEDIA DIGITAL ART AND CULTURE IN FLANDERS BELGIUM - BAM

J O H A N G R I M O N P R E Z
º 196 3, ROESELA R E
A Brandhoutkaai 37/6
1 000 Brussels
E history@online.be
W zapomatik.com
Belgian filmmaker/artist Johan Grimonprez caused
an international stir with his first feature dial
H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, a dizzying chronicle of airplane
hijacking that eerily foreshadows the events of
9/11. Traveling the main festival circuit from the
Berlinale to Sundance, his critically acclaimed films
have garnered Best Director Awards and were acquired by NBC Universal, ARTE,
and Channel 4. In addition, his works are part of the permanent collections of
the Tate Modern and the Centre Georges Pompidou, as well as having been
exhibited worldwide.
An exploration into media’s mutating collusion with mass perception,
Grimonprez’s work is an inspired media archaeology that can be envisioned as
both the joyful affirmation of a global disengagement, as well as the catalyst
of effervescent criticism. In a society where excessive media consumption has
redefined the role of the storyteller, what is at stake is how to tell a personal
story in a world abundant with images.
Three hijacked jets on desert Airstrip, Amman,
Jordan 12 September 1970.
Still from Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997–2004)
by Johan Grimonprez.
Photography by Rony Vissers
Courtesy of Zapomatik
5 3
Still from DOUBLE TAKE (2009)
by Johan Grimonprez, 80 minutes
Courtesy: Universal and Zapomatik