About Spirit Messages
‘Spirit Messages’ is aemi’s 2024 touring programme, an annual selection made to bring together some of the most exciting new moving image work by Irish and international artists. Alongside a variety of other concerns, the artists featured in this programme employ a diverse set of creative strategies to reveal an interconnected world, one in which the medium is not just the message but the means through which the paranormal can engage our attention. From folk tales to esotericism, poppers training videos, horror flicks and sci-fi, the films in ‘Spirit Messages’ draw from an eclectic array of sources to suggest that the idiosyncratic forms of communication we adopt are often choices that are as subversive as they are functional.
Following on from its screening with Cork International Film Festival, ‘Spirit Messages’ will now travel to a number of venues and festivals in both Ireland and abroad. Curated by aemi and featuring work by Amanda Rice, Niall Cullen and Ross McClean alongside works by artists Jamie Crewe, Luis Arnias, and Dan Guthrie.
Film information
Ross McClean, Echo,2023, Ireland/United Kingdom, 16m/digital, 12 mins
Amanda Rice, The Flesh of Language, 2023, Ireland, 16.5 mins
Niall Cullen, The Dog Who Became a Frog, 2023, Ireland, digital, 6.5 mins
Jamie Crewe, False Wife 2022, United Kingdom, digital, 15 mins
Luis Arnías, Terror Has No Shape, 2021, Venezuela / United States, 16mm/digital, 10 mins
Dan Guthrie, Coaley Peak (A Fragment), 2021, United Kingdom, 16mm/digital, 6.5 mins
Running time: 66 minutes
Ross McClean, Echo
An operation 10 years ago left Allister with damaged vocal cords and an obstacle to communication. His unusual solution reminds us that community thrives in surprising places.
Amanda Rice, The Flesh of Language
The Flesh of Language examines humanity’s impact on Earth’s ecosystems through the lenses of two interrelated mechanics of capitalism: extraction and overproduction.
Niall Cullen, The Dog Who Became a Frog
The Dog Who Became a Frog delves into the interconnectedness of our world by exploring the idea that every living thing shares the same energy force.
Jamie Crewe, False Wife
False Wife is a poppers training video, but its material is obscure. Its narrative is drawn from a variety of folk tales in which transformation occurs, and relationships happen. Its footage is scavenged from sources that reflect these themes, reduced to slivers of significant imagery, rubbed together.
Luis Arnías, Terror Has No Shape
Terror Has No Shape follows a mysterious and grotesque, viscous creature. The film fragments the American horror and sci-fi genres to bring the terror of the lived personal and collective experience of racial trauma to the surface. Through effigy, these horrors materialize and are burned.
Dan Guthrie, Coaley Peak (A Fragment)
Dan Guthrie’s idea with Coaley Peak was to make a film about Blackness and belonging in the English countryside, taking a family photo of some of his relatives at the Gloucestershire viewpoint Coaley Peak as a starting point. Whilst making the film, something happened.
Spirit Messages is accompanied by a newly commissioned text by Leah Reynolds. Leah Reynolds is a writer and bookseller based in Bristol, UK.
Read the text HERE: Moth in Relay by Leah Reynolds 2024
Cork International Film Festival, Cork
Triskel Arts Centre: Sunday 19th November 2023, World Premiere, cinema event
Saturday 23rd March – Saturday 4th May 2024, film installation
Monday 22nd April, cinema event + Q&A with featured artists
Friday 26th April (31 Nicholas Street, Limerick), film installation
Thursday 25th July, (Shankill Road, Belfast), cinema event + Q&A with featured artists
If you are interested in finding out more about featuring this screening as part of your festival or venue programme contact us any time at [email protected]
Still from Terror Has No Shape (2021) by Luis Arnías. Image courtesy of the artist.
Still from Terror Has No Shape (2021) by Luis Arnías. Image courtesy of the artist.
Still from The Flesh of Language (2023) by Amanda Rice. Image courtesy of the artist.
Still from Echo (2023) by Ross McClean. Image courtesy of the artist.
Still from False Wife (2021) by Jamie Crewe. Image courtesy of the artist.
Still from The Dog Who Became A Frog (2023) by Niall Cullen. Image courtesy of the artist.
Still from Coaley Peak (A Fragment) (2021) by Dan Guthrie. Image courtesy of the artist.