Shahryar Nashat creates films and installations that revolve around coercion; the power struggle inherent in the relationship between the individual and traditional institutional powers; religion, corporate interest, the state and even art and history. In the three films premiered in the UK at the Whitechapel, Nashat looks at how the threat of violence can be translated into physical and linguistic containment that restricts possibilities of expression.

Ryan Trecartin: What's the Love Making Babies For, 2003

20 minutes, colour sound
courtesy the artist and Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York

Click on image to enlarge.

Ryan Trecartin's films, by contrast, propose extrovert and exuberant characters, performed by a close community of friends who inhabit an unfettered world. Marked by physical and linguistic excess, the films are immersed in Internet-based, image-heavy culture, informed by TV, movies, music videos, advertising and YouTube. Trecartin's fast-paced editing and multi-layered, energetic screenplays use low-fi 'make-do' props, costumes and an un-slick digital aesthetic, influenced by the filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, John Smith and John Waters.

Shahryar Nashat programmed by Kunsthaus Zurich
Ryan Trecartin programmed by Ballroom Marfa, Texas

From May – October 2008 the Whitechapel's Art in the Auditorium programme in partnership with museums in China, Europe, Latin American and North America, brings together emerging international film and video artists.