Press room

A week of storytelling through documentary film and
a free AR & interactive digital art exhibition

Mon 13 – Sun 19 Jan 2020
www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/series/alternate-realities
 

Barbican Cinema is delighted to showcase highlights from Sheffield Doc/Fest’s pioneering digital art strand, with two works from the festival’s Alternate Realities exhibition of interactive and immersive non-fiction.

Exhibiting as part of Inside Out, a year-long Barbican cross arts season exploring the relationship between our inner lives and creativity, Alternate Realities is presented by Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Barbican Centre, with support from Arts Council England.

In the interactive installation Echo, by Georgie Pinn, audiences step into the shoes of another through a virtual mirror, select a shared story and discover layers of themselves echoed back. Winner of the ‘Best Digital Experience Award’ at this year’s Doc/Fest, Pinn's artwork is a deeply personal exploration of human identity and empathy, offering an intense and visually unique experience. The Barbican presentation of Echo features new, intimate stories never shown before. 

Alongside Pinn's work, Rob Eagle’s augmented reality installation Through the Wardrobe playfully invites visitors into a wardrobe where the possibilities of gender are endless. The viewer is invited to explore the belongings of others and play with their own ideas of gender.

This is a documentary mixed-reality installation that looks at the daily considerations non-binary people must make in expressing their gender identity through clothing.

These installations are accompanied by two screenings: Agostino Ferrente’s Selfie (Italy 2019, dir Agostino Ferrente) and Enrico Masi’s Shelter - Farewell to Eden (Italy/France 2019, dir Enrico Masi), two powerful films that examine identity and depict intensely personal experiences in new and innovative ways.

Gali Gold, Head of Cinema says:

‘Exploring identities and our most inner, authentic selves in a sincere and captivating way is simply vital in the pursuit of openness, of hearts and minds, as individuals and communities in our society. We’re therefore delighted to give artists, filmmakers and audiences the space to connect through unique and excitingly creative stories of the self, in new forms of engagement. We love the opportunity to link the Barbican level G programme and our cinemas, allowing visitors to take active part in journeys inward, guided by the moving image and innovative cinematic modes of storytelling.’

Melanie Iredale, Deputy Director, Sheffield Doc/Fest says:

“We are so looking forward to returning to Barbican with two of our audiences favourites from this year’s Alternate Realities exhibition at Doc/ Fest. Echo and Through the Wardrobe both offer immersive experiences, inviting the viewer to step in to the shoes of another as we listen to personal and intimate stories. A huge thank you to Barbican for once again collaborating on our UK tour, to Arts Council England for the support, and to artists Georgie Pinn and Rob Eagle for sharing their work with us.” 


Full programme

Echo
Alternate Realities
Mon 13 - Sun 19 Jan 2020, Mon – Sat 1 pm – 9.00 pm, Sun 12pm – 8pm
Barbican Cinema 2 & 3 Foyers

The installation allows participants to step into someone else’s shoes through a virtual mirror, select a shared story and discover layers of themselves echoed back in this personal exploration of human identity.

Winner of the ‘Best Digital Experience Award’ at this year’s Doc/Fest, the key intention of the ECHO experience is to generate empathy and connect people, offering an intense and visually unique experience. How do we feel when someone blinks with our eyes, smiles with our lips or speaks with our tongue?

Through the Wardrobe
Alternate Realities
Mon 13 — Sun 19 Jan 2020, Mon – Sat 1 pm – 9.00 pm, Sun 12pm – 8 pm
Barbican Cinema 2&3 foyers

Discover a wardrobe where the possibilities of gender are endless. The user is invited to explore the belongings of others and play with gender expression.

Through the Wardrobe is a documentary mixed-reality installation that explores the daily considerations non-binary people must make in expressing their gender identity through clothing. 

The experience mixes audio interviews with colourful hand-drawn interactive animations in an augmented reality headset, taking place within a physical set that requires the audience to dress up, touch the furniture, and use their body as a controller to decide on the pace and flow of the experience.
 

Films screening

Selfie (15*)
Italy 2019, Dir Agostino Ferrente, 78 min
Tue 14 Jan 2020, 19:00, Barbican Cinema 3
 
Two 16-year-old boys record the aftermath of the killing of one of their friends in this intensely personal documentary, filmed in Naples.

Alessandro and Pietro, both 16, live in Traiano, a poor district in Naples where their friend, Davide, was shot dead by police, who mistook him for a fugitive. Encouraged by director Agostino Ferrente, the boys film themselves and their neighbourhood in the weeks following the tragedy, as they grieve and consider their own futures.

Despite the context, there is plenty of humour in the iPhone videos the boys create. Using their phones as a mirror to reflect their complex emotions, Alessandro and Pietro are hugely likeable guides, and Selfie is a poignant exploration of loyalty and friendship.

Shelter – Farewell to Eden (15*)
Italy/France 2019, Dir Enrico Masi, 80 min
Sat 18 Jan 2020, 15:30, Barbican Cinema 3

Trans migrant Pepsi, born in the Philippines, shares her fascinating life experiences as she journeys to seek asylum in Italy.

Pepsi recounts her astonishing life, from growing up in the minority Muslim (Moro) community in the Philippines, joining the Islamic Liberation Front and moving temporarily to Libya to work as a nurse. Enrico Masi’s stunningly beautiful film follows Pepsi’s experiences between France and Italy, where she hopes to be granted asylum.

Masi’s sensitive direction and Pepsi’s compelling philosophical narration simultaneously reveals the complexities of her personal experiences and considers gender inequality, transphobia and racism, in a film that has been described as a ‘post-colonial parable’.