17 Days Video Series

My films are experimental, I work very much with animation, but I often mix two-dimensional successions of drawings and three-dimensional settings (animated using the “stop motion” technique) with real life shots. I like crossing over layers of different bits of film that were created with these different techniques. A lot of time based images in my films are abstract. I do not use narrative, action or talking, and the narration is for me what happens through the succession of images and places that appear on the screen one after the other with their elements moving into and out of the frame. Very often, I include figurative elements to the scenes that I construct: they could be objects created with clay carefully put in the right pace to signify a particular concept, real human beings moving and conveying particular emotions, or falling plants and water to give to the viewer the sense that a change is in progress. I think the most important thing in a movie is the shape of objects or their colors that alone can express a mood or send a message without the needs for words.

It is useful for me to stop for some time working with the camera, and start dealing with materials like paper, water, glue, canvas and clay: my video work is very much connected to the making of art. I think more like a sculptor or a photographer; I am much more a marker of shapes that when interlaced with time and sound make things happen, than a story teller.

The Tower Trilogy, 2005 – 10:00 mins

Barbara Agreste was born in Pescara in 1971. She first approaches art-making i the Art Lyceum of her town, and after completing the course she goes to Milan to attend a scenography course in the Academy of Arts. Not happy with the cultural atmosphere that surrounds her in Italy, at the age of 23 she moves to London where she begins working as a performer for “Rawhead Dance Theatre”. In 1996 Barbara enrolls in Kent Institute of Arts & Design taking as her subject of study “Film & Video Production”. After graduating in July 2000 she has access to the MA course in “Fine Art” at Central St. Martins College of Art & Design in London where she is awarded the “Master of Arts” in September 2004. Since then Barbara has continued producing films and paintings, exhibiting and attending film festivals in UK, Italy and in the rest of the world. Barbara lives and works in London although her visits to Italy are very frequent.

Barbara Agreste – London United Kingdom | Pescara Italy

www.bambee.org