Video Jam x Basquiat
TheHashtag Magazine, 2018
To close the hugely successful ‘Basquiat: Boom For Real’ exhibition at the Barbican, Manchester collective Video Jam produced an event of short films paired with live music. Based on Basquiat’s work, life or inspirations, the films were commissioned from a wide selection of international artists. It’s about as live as a film screening can be - the ‘blind’ collaboration process means the pairings sizzle with vitality and risk. Video Jam’s director & film curator Sarah Hill explains:
“Essentially, the events are an experiment, the premise of which is not to find the “perfect” score for a film, but to explore the possibilities of live accompaniment. We try to be aware of potential audience expectation, and to avoid conventional pairings…. We can never know how it’ll be until the event itself. We remain almost as unaware as the audience. This sense of the unexpected is what fuels Video Jam.”
