The Dutch Art Istitute presents on Sunday October 18th a roaming assembly at Showroom in Arnhem about contemporary artists reflecting on history through the revolutionary lens of art and cinema. With André Stufkens, and artists from Australia (Vivian Ziherl, Tom Nicholson), from The Netherlands (Wendelien van Oldenborgh) and Indonesia (Farid Rakun).
This month October Ivens’ films will be presented during major documentary festivals in Japan and the Czech Republic. Also the new created Bertha DocHouse in London will screen an Ivensfilm in their programme.
The Black Armada (Armada Hitam) opening at the Museum Benteng Vredeburg, Yogyakarta on 31 August with the permanent screening of Ivens' Indonesia Calling showed decorations, traditional dancers, prayers, speeches, a sumptuous feast, and to top it all off, an explosion-packed historical re-enactment of a battle by Indonesian freedom fighters. Film and exhibition commemorate the Australian support of the fight for independence of the Republic of Indonesia 70 years ago.
On 20 August Mr. H.E. Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, Indonesian Ambassador in Canberra, Australia, will open the exhibition ‘Black Armada / Armada Hitam’ at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney. It is about the support of the fight of independence of the young Republic of Indonesia by black banning Dutch ships in the harbour of Sydney, as presented in Ivens’ film Indonesia Calling (1946). On 31 August the Indonesian and Australian Ambassador will open the Indonesian version of this exhibition at the Benteng Independence Museum in Yogyakarta.
Joris Ivens' first wife, photographer Germaine Krull (1897-1985), made pioneering photos during the 1920's and 1930's. In the Parisian museum Jeu de paume an overview of her photographic oeuvre is exhibited until 27 September. Curator Michel Frizot attempts to shed a new light on the influence of Krull: she is the most important photojournalist in between wars publishing at least ten photo books and many innovative press articles with a new lay out and use of photos in magazines.
Read more: Germaine Krull: A Photographer's Journey in Jeu de paume, Paris
A rare, unique icon of documentary film: Joris Ivens’ Song of the Rivers (Lied der Ströme, 1954) is published on DVD by Absolut Medien in Berlin and can be ordered on-line. This landmark in compilation film was seen by 250 Million people at the time, but the opportunity to see the film nowadays is scarce. Ralf Schenk, director of the DEFA Foundation in Berlin and board member of the Ivens Foundation decided to publish this fresco about the labour movement on the river banks of six major rivers at the same moment as Günter Jordans book on Ivens will be published (November 2015).
He is doing it again: Günter Jordan, film historian, filmmaker and author of major works about East-German film history wrote another solid book of 700 pages, focussing on Ivens’ German films in the 1950’s. Probably the less researched period of Ivens’ film career. His book ‘Unbekannter Ivens. Triumph, Verdammnis, Auferstehung 1948–1989’ has been commissioned by the DEFA Stiftung and will be published in November.
Read more: 'The Unknown Ivens', a new book in Germany announced
The Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen is presenting eleven art works, created by Titus Nolte, based on ten Republican soldiers as shown in Ivens' The Spanish Earth. The unica, aluminium panels with silk-screen printed and painted images, were commissioned by the museum at the occassion of the first big exhibition of the museum in 1999: 'Passages. Joris Ivens and the art of this century'. The artist granted the 11 art works to the museum, which will be on exhibit until 4 October 2015.
