MITCHELL / GREEN

The Set Up
16 mm film installation, 2005
Duration: 33 minutes
Single takes of private musical performances

The collaborative début of Ilana Mitchell and Susie Green bring us the glamour, atmosphere, nuances and mistakes of live performance caught on film. Nine bands played live and were filmed within a constructed set in Mitchell's living room, transforming a private home into a public space . No live audience was present at the time, but later the film had its premiere in the same space when it was shown to its first audience.

'Unlike a music video which distracts with changing shots and fast cuts, The Set Up allows the audience to concentrate or drift in and out of the performances as they would in a live situation.’ - Ilana Mitchell.

Both directorial facilitators are intrigued by the interaction of performance, performer and viewer. From an elaborative planning process of dreaming and drawing wonderful structures to host The Set Up, the project has grown into a timeless stage where audience is displaced and viewer invited.

On general release from 23rd June 2007, The Set Up will be showcased to another intimate audience.

Ilana MITCHELL is currently working between London and Newcastle. She makes solo work and is part of a number of collectives and collaborations. Mitchell is programme coordinator of Platform North East – an informal organisation supporting live work in the region; licensee for the new Star and Shadow cinema in Newcastle; and group film maker with Film Bee. She exhibits regularly in a variety of spaces and occasionally puts on events in her flat under the name Starboard Home. From May to August 2007 she is Artist-in-Residence at Camden Arts Centre. Working on a project called Camden Communality, she will continue her exploration of dialogical art in a project that revolves around the growing of a gardening patch. Made up of the gentle interplay between accidental and intentional communities, Mitchell is fascinated by the many invisible contributors to this communality. Visit her online at www.camdencommunality.co.uk.

Talitha Kotze - The Glocal l’Africain du sud