An evening with Mike Dibb

In the presence of and in conversation with Mike Dibb.

Mike Dibb (°1940, Leeds) is one of the major documentary makers from the UK, who is best known for his groundbreaking television series Ways of Seeing (1972). With author John Berger, Dibb created an innovative visual language and collage structure that supported a refreshing and critical outlook on Western art and visual culture. During his long career for the BBC and later on Channel 4, Dibb enjoyed an extraordinary amount of creative freedom in the 1980s and 90s, allowing him to explore his passions. The result is an impressive oeuvre of films and documentary series about music (Miles Davis, Keith Jared), literature (Lorca, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Elmore Leonard), intellectuals (Raymond Williams, Studs Terkl, Edward Said) and visual arts (drawing, art and psychoanalysis and Dali).

Whether dealing with authors, oeuvres or longer series on ideas like play, time, or drawing, Dibb always approaches his subjects from the vantage point of conversation and collage. He remains in the background, and allows for the different voices to tell their own stories. A number of long conversations with important intellectuals like Stuart Hall, Edward Said and Roger Deakin capture conversation in its purest form. In his most recent film, Painted with my Hair, Dibb explores the survival strategy of an American prisoner, Donny Johnson, who has been imprisoned for over 25 years, mostly in solitary confinement. Bereaved of everything, Johnson finds a way out in painting, using colours distilled from M&Ms and brushes made of his own hair.

During the evening in STUK, we will go on a journey through Dibb's career with viewing fragments of his best works. At 20:00 we will show the premier of his most recent film, Painted with my Hair.

The screening is organised by STUK and Courtisane, in collaboration with the Lieven Gevaert Centre, the Institute of Philosophy (KU Leuven) and the Research Group Literary Theory and Cultural Studies, Fac. of Arts (KU Leuven).