Unorthodox Narratives: Roman Štětina and Duncan Campbell

A discussion and screening will open up a dialogue between two distinctive artists, Duncan Campbell and Roman Štětina, whose unorthodox approaches to the medium of film in contemporary visual art earned them the highly appreciated art awards, the British Turner Prize and the Czech Jindřich Chalupecký Award.

In 2014, the same year that Duncan Campbell won the Turner Prize with his film It for Others, Roman Štětina received the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, the Czech equivalent of a high-rank appreciation in visual arts, similarly for an almost hour-long film essay titled Lost Case. While Campbell intended to install his piece, initially shown during the Venice Biennial, in a gallery space, Štětina decided to only display a poster within the award exhibition and moved the actual work to an art house cinema venue. His film re-uses the footage of the iconic TV series Columbo, shot between 1968 and 2003. Štětina created a poetic non-verbal narrative, which investigates the boundaries between the character of the famous detective and the actual actor, Peter Falk. In It for Others, Campbell returns to Chris Marker and Alan Resnais’ 1953 film Statues Also Die, emphasizing the notion of the fleeting nature of objects, as well as their metamorphoses into commodities, politically or socially charged artifacts.  

Although representing distinct thematic and aesthetic positions, both Campbell and Štětina share a sense for building unorthodox narratives and fetish for historical articles when working with found footage and re-investigating the functions of image, sound, presence and absence. The discussion accompanied by screening of parts of the award-winning films as well as presenting other works by both artists will focus on their intersecting points in order to show the artists’ views in broader perspectives, revealing some of the processes involved in shaping the discourse of film in contemporary visual art.

Duncan Campbell, Bernadette (still) 16mm film transferred to digital video, 38’ 10’’, 2008

Duncan Campbell, It For Others (still) 16mm and analogue video transferred to digital video, 54’, 2013

Duncan Campbell, Make It New John (still) 16mm and analogue video transferred to digital video, 50’, 2009

Roman Štětina, Lost Case (still) video, colour, sound, 58’, 2015

Roman Štětina, Tongue Twister (still), super 16mm film / digital transfer, colour, sound, 5’46’’, 2014

Roman Štětina, Test Room (still), HD video, 6’, 2015

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Duncan Campbell, Bernadette (still) 16mm film transferred to digital video, 38’ 10’’, 2008

Duncan Campbell, It For Others (still) 16mm and analogue video transferred to digital video, 54’, 2013

Duncan Campbell, Make It New John (still) 16mm and analogue video transferred to digital video, 50’, 2009

Roman Štětina, Lost Case (still) video, colour, sound, 58’, 2015

Roman Štětina, Tongue Twister (still), super 16mm film / digital transfer, colour, sound, 5’46’’, 2014

Roman Štětina, Test Room (still), HD video, 6’, 2015

Duncan Campbell was born in Dublin in 1972. He lives and works in Glasgow. Campbell studied at the University of Ulster, Belfast, before completing an MFA at Glasgow School of Art in 1998.
His recent solo exhibitions include Duncan Campbell, Arbeit, Kunsthall Oslo, (2015); Duncan Campbell, IMMA, Dublin (2014); Generation, The Common Guild, Glasgow (2014); Duncan Campbell; Bernadette, G.MK gallery, Zagreb Croatia (2014); Duncan Campbell, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2012); Duncan Campbell, Belfast Exposed, Belfast; Arbeit, Hotel, London (2011); Make It New John, Artists Space, New York (2010); Make It New John, Tramway, Glasgow (2010); Make It New John, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2009); Duncan Campbell, Kunstverein Munich (2009); From the Collection: Duncan Campbell’s Bernadette, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Mass. (2009); Bernadette, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2009); Bernadette and Sigmar, MUMOK, Vienna (2009); Art Now Lightbox: Duncan Campbell, Tate Britain, London (2009); Duncan Campbell, Baltic, Gateshead (2008). Recent group exhibitions include Yebisu International Festival for Arts & Alternative Visions 2015, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo (2015); Turner Prize 2014, Tate Britain, London (2014); Scotland + Venice 2013, Palazzo Pisani, 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Arbeidstid, Henie Onstad Art Centre, Hovikodden (2013); Manifesta 9, Genk, Limburg, Belgium (2012): British Art Show 7: In the Age of the Comet, Nottingham Contemporary and touring (2010-11); 1000 Lives, 8th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2010); Fight the Power, Museo Nacional Centro de Reina Sofia, Madrid (2009); Art Now Lightbox, Tate Britain, London (2006); Manifesta 5, San Sebastian (2004). Duncan Campbell is the recipient of the Turner Prize, 2014.

Roman Štětina was born in Kadaň in 1986. He currently lives and works in Prague, Czech Republic. Štětina graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 2015 after spending two years on the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main in the classes of Judith Hopf and Douglas Gordon.
His recent solo shows include Souvenir, Pollansky Gallery, Prague (2015); Lecture, Gallery of Fine Arts, Zlín (2015); Speak, To Allow Me To See You, Kabinet Gallery, Brno (2014); Season 0, Třinec Municipal Gallery, Třinec (2013); STUDIO No. 2, Polansky Gallery, Prague (2013), STUDIO No. 2 (Slapstick), bb15, Linz (2013); Life Clock (with K. Mikesková), 35m2 Gallery, Prague (2012), STUDIO - A Room Where Carpets Mean Air, Jelení Gallery, Prague (2012); The Sceleton Comes to the Academy (with D. Gajarský, T. Hrůza), AVU Gallery, Prague (2011); IF (with T. Moravec), Kostka gallery, MeetFactory, Prague (2010); Puncture Tyres (with T. Moravec), S.P.A.C.E. Gallery, Bratislava (2010). Recent group shows include Silver Lining, National Gallery, Prague (2015); All Watched Over, James Cohan Gallery, New York (2015); 7th Zlín Youth Salon – Gallery of Fine Arts, Zlín (2015); The Importance of Being in a (Moving) Image, National Gallery, Prague (2015); Jindrich Chalupecky Award, National Gallery, Prague (2014); Straight to Camera: Performance for Film, Modern Art Oxford (2014); Relaxing in the shadow of Art, Kunstraum am Schauplatz, Vienna (2014); Plato’s Third Eye, MeetFactory Gallery, Prague (2014); Peripheral Vision, IV. Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, MMOMA, Moscow (2014); Explain Me Not, Autocenter Berlin (2014); Metyphysik der Diziplin, Czech Centre Berlin (2013); Essl Art Award 2011, Essl Museum, Vienna (2012); Gaspard of the Night, Futura Gallery, Prague (2010). Roman Štětina is the recipient of the ESSL Art Award CEE, 2011 and the Jindřich Chalupecký Award, 2014.