Residency project:

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During her residency, Sharlene will be developing a multi-channel installation titled Both, Instrument & Sound which is an extension of her latest film of the same name. The project employs tension as an aesthetic strategy, to explore solidarity, collective struggle, and the transformation of these values under neoliberalism.

 

Artwork’s description:

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Both, Instrument & Sound

Sharlene Bamboat

16mm & Super 8mm, 5.1 Sound & Stereo, 40 min. Canada, 2024

 

Both, Instrument & Sound employs tension as an aesthetic strategy, to explore solidarity, collective struggle, and the transformation of these values under neoliberalism. The film follows the life of Tony over 3 years as he describes his process of political activism from the 1970s onwards, which cannot be disentangled from his friendships and his lovers.

 

The film’s score - co-written with musicians, the film’s cast and crew - sonically explores different interpretations of tension—both in response to Tony’s narration and to the musicians’ existing approaches to tension as a musical, cinematic, scientific, and political experience. Everyone translates, performs and remixes it using instruments of their choice.

In the face of a growing politics and language of individualism Both, Instrument & Sound questions how our discourses and practices of solidarity have changed since the rise of neoliberalism. Through hand-processed 16mm film, poetry and collective listening practices, the collision of flesh and friendship, sonic and visual tension and the complications of solidarity are explored.