Dystopian Futures

Join us for the first in a series of screenings between Film and Video Umbrella and The Bomb Factory Art Foundation exploring how moving-image as a medium can offer new and collective ways of thinking about the times in which we live. With new masters of the moving image Shezad Dawood and Lawrence Lek draw us inexorably into the future. This event brings together parallel universes, new forms of artificial intelligence and subconscious memories to create a provocative stimulation for both the eye and mind.

Geomancer – Lawrence Lek
46 mins
Heralded by the futuristic computer-generated cityscapes that have become a signature feature of his work, Lawrence Lek’s mini-opus Geomancer is less inclined to map the building blocks of the urban architecture of tomorrow than to try and summon up the spirit of our rapidly dawning age - one whose characteristics, Lek implies, include the growing ascendancy of the cultural phenomenon of Sino-Futurism.

Towards the Possible Film – Shezad Dawood
21 mins
Shezad Dawood’s Towards the Possible Film is a study in parallel universes – and the sparks that fly when worlds collide. As much of a projection into a far-off future as a flashback to a long-forgotten past, Dawood’s vivid 20-minute tableau combines the resonance of a mythic fable with the hallucinatory haziness of a waking dream.

Film and Video Umbrella commissions, curates, produces and presents artists’ moving-image works that are staged in collaboration with galleries and other cultural partners. Since the late 1980s, FVU has been at the forefront of this vibrant and expanding area of practice, promoting innovation through its support of some of the most exciting figures on the contemporary scene.

About the Bomb Factory

The Bomb Factory Art Foundation is an independent space for contemporary art based in Archway, North London. We are an artist-led non-profit organisation offering affordable studio space, a gallery and workshop to artists at any stage of their careers. Currently, there are 12 studios, 2 independent associated art groups and over 20 resident artists ranging from recent graduates to internationally acclaimed prize winners. The Bomb Factory Art Foundation provides a dynamic context for the creation, support and experience of contemporary art through our evolving programme of exhibitions, open studio events, artist talks and educational activities. The Bomb Factory Art Foundation is a registered charity.