The archives of the 80s have become a rich source of inspiration for artists working today – in particular the flourishing of different voices that emerged through community video and the independent workshop movement. This discussion presented in collaboration with Flatpack will focus on two recent projects which reimagine that material and draw out resonances with today. 

Birmingham-born multidisciplinary artist Gary Stewart explores issues of identity and culture through a range of theoretical, fictional and artistic frames. He is part of the research, production and performance artist group Dubmorphology, and based at his Dark Energy Studio in London he performs as experimental, improvisational sound artist Bantu.

An established performer and artist, some of his recent works include immersive sculptural sound installation Canto III, at the British Pavilion for the 2024 Venice Biennale, sound design for Viva Voice, an ongoing project at Tate Britain and a sound installation for a collaborative project Tapestry of Black Britons at Arnolfini in Bristol.

For Rewind + Reuse, Gary will present a live performative audio-visual reading drawing from his current research with Vivid Projects, which draws from archives, conversations and workshops in Handsworth and Northfield community libraries earlier this year.

Adam Lewis Jacob is an artist and filmmaker based in Glasgow. His work is about the structures that govern our lives and the countercultural figures that question them. He uses the camera and exhibition making to create a space where ideas and people can be brought together and unexpected relationships can occur, using improvisation, performance and sound. His practice involves reanimating archival materials, resisting conclusions, and instead, offers fragments, questions, and moments of critical disruption.

He is one of the founding members of Céline, an independent artist-run exhibition space in Glasgow. Between 2015-2017, he was part of the Transmission Gallery committee. His work has been screened and exhibited at the Berwick Film and Media Arts festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Alchemy Film Festival, Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India), Studio 55 (Korea), Vivid Projects, LUX (London) and Peak, London, among others. In 2025, he will exhibit works at DRIK, Bangladesh and TOKAS, Japan. He is currently working on a new experimental portrait of underground artist, writer, and musician Edwin Pouncey, also known as Savage Pencil.

Filmed in Bangladesh and Birmingham during 2020 and using footage from the TURC archive, his film Idrish (ইদ্রিস) is an urgent and timely reflection on the anti-deportation movement and anti-racist community action refracted through the story of veteran anti-deportation campaigner Muhammad Idrish.

The conversation will be hosted by Yasmeen Baig Clifford, director of Vivid Projects and a commissioner of projects with both artists. It will be followed by a full screening of Idrish (ইদ্রিস) (2021, 32 mins).

To purchase tickets, click here. 

This event has been supported by BFI Collections as part of a long-term project to illuminate and restore the films of the workshop movement.