Two Films About Love with works by Anne-Marie Copestake & Mouaad el Salem Exhibition Opening: Thursday 7 September 2023 Exhibition: 8 September – 4 November 2023 Open: Wednesday - Friday 12 - 6pm. Saturdays 12 - 5pm. Exhibition Programme Handout The gestures of everyday life - commissioned text by Myriam Mouflih For the first public presentation of the 2023–25 Curatorial Fellowship programme, two films are brought together in Cubitt’s gallery space; A love (2019) by Anne-Marie Copestake and This Day Won’t Last (2020) by Mouaad el Salem. Both films use close-looking and observation of different, precarious communities to meditate on the nature of love and its political affects. Image: This Day Won’t Last (2020) Mouaad el Salem In A love, Copestake creates a portrait of the everyday within her own neighbourhood, a place where, historically, recent arrivals to Glasgow have settled and made their homes. It prioritises a mutual recognition in moments of touch, softness, warmth, and dialogue. Similarly, el Salem’s This Day Won’t Last creates a portrait of daily life that is both collective and individual, however it functions in a different way, in invoking the remnants of French colonial laws on the lived experiences of Tunisia’s queer community. Bodies, textiles, scenes from the city all lead one from another, as the narrator contemplates the ramifications of ever leaving the country. ANNE-MARIE COPESTAKE lives in Glasgow, working with moving image, sound, sculpture, print and performance. Attentive to temporary and longer term communities, narrative and emotion, her work is concerned with entangled social political conditions surrounding individual and collective choices, or lack of choices, and an exploration of environments that may contribute to these conditions. She often works collaboratively, most recently with musician Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh. MOUAAD EL SALEM is director, activist and lead character of the debut film This Day Won’t Last. Mouaad lives and dreams in Tunisia. He has the impression he’s wasting his life in a place where he can’t be himself. He hopes to attend a film school someday to develop his talent and to make more films. Extended Programme Alongside the ongoing screening-room exhibition of works by Copestake and el Salem, a series of events and extended programming will pull at and expand the intimacies, politics and imaginings proposed through these artists’ works. Exhibition Opening Thursday 7 September 7 – 9pm Join us for the evening opening of ‘Two Films About Love’ with the Cubitt team. Drinks available. Breakfast Opening 13 September 10am – 12pm Join us to see our current show with coffee, tea and light refreshments provided. Includes a brief introduction to the exhibition by our Curatorial Fellow, Seán Elder. Feeling Still: A Reading Group 20 September 7 – 9pmBook here An opportunity to engage with writing that has informed artistic and curatorial approaches in the current exhibition, the Feeling Still Reading Group will unfold throughout the fellowship programme, with a selection of texts brought together through recommendations by associated curators and artists. This session will include a reading of excerpts from Kathleen Stewart’s Ordinary Affects. No preparation is required as we will provide reading copies for attendees and read aloud together, whilst also making space for participants who would prefer not to read aloud themselves. Three Films (with Movement) 12 October 7.30 – 8.30pmBook here This screening brings together three films that feature movements both everyday and unexpected, into proximity with Cubitt’s current exhibition, Two Films About Love. These films, one by Alexandros Pissourios and two by Margaret Salmon, span scenes of domesticity, intimacy and animation and unfold in spaces of both rest and exercise. Les Filles Destinées | Valentin Noujaïm (2021) 26 October 7 – 9pmBook here On the closing night of their favourite bar, Eden, Crystal and Ibtissame, experience strange events. Crystal mysteriously disappears, kidnapped by a purple star. Eden sets out to find the one she loves, only to discover that Crystal is trapped in a parallel and fantastic world. (Supported by l'Institut Français du Royaume-Uni) New Writing: Myriam Mouflih Online For Two Films About Love, Cubitt has commissioned a new piece of writing by Glasgow-based curator, programmer and writer Myriam Mouflih. Mouflih’s new writing has emerged both from engagement with works in the programme, as well as her ongoing research and practice surrounding North African cinema. Exhibition Documentation Photo: Kadeem Oak [2023] Manage Cookie Preferences