Isabella Rossellini, Hélio Oiticica and Richard Foreman at the 8th Forum Expanded

Forum Expanded is presenting film programmes, exhibitions and discussions as part of the Berlinale for the eighth time already. As a flexible platform for artistic work, Forum Expanded sees its role in breaking new ground and tapping into new spaces each year. Over the last few years, the still nameless area between cinema and art has gained a degree of autonomy while retaining a sense of openness in the process. The programme draws its power and creativity by bridging the gap between the nervous energy of the typical festival premiere moment and the concentrated discussions held between artists and audiences at the Berlinale.

After having shown her work on previous occasions, this year’s Forum Expanded presents a new piece by Isabella Rossellini once again, who embodies the often tense relationship between large-scale cinema and artistic tenacity like few others. Mammas is the continuation of the Green Porno series of short films, which she presented at the Berlinale in 2008. Once again, the actress and director takes on a broad range of different animal roles – this time round in order to explore the maternal instincts of different species. The world premiere of Mammas will include a live piano accompaniment by the composer of the film music Marc Chouarain.

Another key focus of this year’s Forum Expanded programme is the oeuvre of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, who died in 1980. Oiticica is regarded as one of Brazil’s most famous artists and is primarily known for the interactive objects and participatory installations and environments he produced in the 1960s. Yet he also created a great deal of both cinematic and cinephilically minded work, also coming into contact with the American underground film scene during his time in New York in the 1970s. Alongside the so-called “Quasi-Cinema” installations from the “Block-Experiments in Cosmococa – program in progress” series, which are being shown at Hamburger Bahnhof and Liquidrom, we are also presenting the film Hélio Oiticica, a documentary by Cesar Oiticica Filho, the artist’s nephew and curator for his estate. Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, the co-curator of this section of the programme, presents a selection of historical Super 8 film material with and by Oiticica, with a panel discussion with art historian Sabeth Buchman providing the discursive framework. To bring things to a close, the installation in Liquidrom, which can only be seen on one evening, invites the audience to quite literally take a dip in order to experience the image and sound sequences from the pool.

Richard Foreman is another guest at this year’s Forum Expanded. The founder of the legendary New York Ontological Hysteric Theatre returns to the big screen for the first time in over 30 years with his film Once Every Day. The piece is edited together from loops, ellipses and fragments to form a congenial cinematic realisation of his unique approach to theatre and will be receiving its European premiere at HAU Hebbel am Ufer.

The Forum Expanded group exhibition is taking place this year at the Silent Green Kulturquartier, in what used to be the Wedding crematorium. A detailed list of the artists and works included in the exhibition will be announced in January.

As in previous years, additional installations can be seen at the Marshall McLuhan Salon of the Embassy of Canada and at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart. For the discussions, Forum Expanded will be moving into the Kunstgewerbemuseum.

The foyer of the Arsenal cinema in the Filmhaus at Potsdamer Platz will be transformed into an urban garden by the Prinzessinnengärten for the third year running. The Kreuzberg collective b_books will, as always, be present with a book stand.

Forum Expanded is curated by Stefanie Schulte Strathaus (head curator), Anselm Franke, Nanna Heidenreich, Bettina Steinbrügge and Ulrich Ziemons.

More information about the programme as well as an overview of all the filmmakers and artists involved will be announced in a second press release.