The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers: A Ben Rivers exhibition
Director: Ben Rivers
Producer: Jacqui Davies
The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, the first stage of a project by British artist Ben Rivers opened in the Drama Block of Television Centre, White City on 26 June 2015. Through multiple film projections, Rivers explores the illusion of filmmaking by layering one uncanny landscape, that of Morocco’s wild Atlas Mountains and much-filmed desert, with another, the iconic London backdrop to BBC drama since 1960.
Filmed in 16mm cinemascope, narratives, locations, and distinct eras of filmmaking all collide: A Distant Episode, the savage 1947 short story set in Morocco by Paul Bowles; behind-the-scenes footage of two other films shot in Morocco by artist Shezad Dawood and filmmaker Oliver Laxe; Bowles's storytelling muse Mohammed Mrabet playing himself and Laxe abandoning the set of his own film to take up another role.
In a second iteration of this installation, Rivers has used materials sourced from old film sets to create viewing spaces within the gallery, and inserted works into collection displays, creating a new dialogue with the spaces and collections at Whitworth Art Gallery - The University of Manchester.
Exhibition Dates:
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester, 25 February - 22 May 2016
Television Centre, White City, London W12 7RJ, 26 June - 31 August 2015
Commsioned by Artangel and BBC Radio 4.
Co-commissioned with the BFI’s Film Fund and The Whitworth, Manchester
Further information: Artangel